


Chinese Treasures

by Mirlinish



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Pirates, Tea Pairing, Treasure Hunting, iggychu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-05-19
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-08 19:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirlinish/pseuds/Mirlinish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur, a fearless pirate captain, managed to find a map to the Chinese imperial treasures. There is just one thing that he need to get it. Blood from the Chinese imperial bloodline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Grammar nazi's will hate me :'D  
> I don't have a beta yet. Sorry guys...  
> 
> 
> Arthur Kirkland - England  
>  Wang Yao - China  
>  Wang Jin - Hong Kong

### Chapter 1

A sigh passed Yao's lips when he stared at his empty inkstone. Of course he always ran out of ink whenever he had to sign a pile of paperwork.

He carefully placed his brush next to the inkstone, making sure that the ink drenched tip would not touch the important documents on his desk.

The Chinese emperor pushed his chair back quietly and stood up. With quick steps he walked to a black wooden cupboard that stood against the wall. He opened the drawers one by one, searching for a last jar of ink, but he seemed to be out of luck.

A little bit irritated he looked through the room, unwittingly seeing the red walls and the golden symbols that were drawn on them. The palace was already dynasties old, created and protected by his ancestors.

While Yao's thoughts drifted off to his ancestors, he forgot the pile of work he still had to do for a moment. His eyes slide over the symbols that were engraved in the table, chair and the cupboards. He looked at the jade vases and a porcelain teapot that stood on his desk. The teapot had been a birthday present from his younger brother Jin. It was already years ago, but he still used it every single day.

The steam of the hot tea within the teapot broke free through the spout and reminded Yao that he hadn't had a single cup of tea yet. He decided that he could use a little break before he would continue his work and walked to his chair, yet he never got the chance to sit down.

The door of the study swung open and two guards walked in. They quickly bowed before their emperor and one explained why they had to disturb Yao during his work.

"Your majesty Wang. The English pirates broke through the front gate, they are on their way here. We will escort you through the back of the palace."

Yao was taking by surprise yet the words came through quickly. He walked to the corner of his study and took his sword from its stand. "Where is Jin?" He asked, concerned about his brother.

"We are escorting him to the back, sire." The guard answered.

"Good." Yao answered. "Make sure everyone gets out safety. I do not need an escort outside. Also do not try to protect value objects." Yao did not care about the value of his possessions, the safety of his people was more important to him than anything else. Besides the most value objects belong to the Chinese treasure. A treasure buried far away for no one to be found.

"Of course, sire." Both guards said. They turned around and walked out of the room, but never came far.

Two gun shots sounded in the hallway. Yao turned himself to the door and saw two pirates walked in, both aiming their gun at him. One had dirty dreadlocks framing his face, while the other had long messy hair that he kept out of his face with a dark red bandana. Yao drew his sword in a split second and held it in both hands next to his face, ready to defend himself.

A third pirate walked in calmly. There was no doubt that it was the pirate captain. Compared to the other two pirates the captain looked more refined. He wore a long red coat with golden fringes and a black pirate hat with a high white plume. His short blond hair was messy, but not as dirty as the hair of the other two pirates.

There was only one thing that stood out more than the captain's clothes and that were his thick eyebrows. While Yao looked at them, he noticed his was estimating if they were twice or three-times as thick as normal eyebrows. Yet it wasn't ill suiting together with his emerald green eyes, eyes that looked at him with a glistering of sadistic enjoyment in them.

The pirate captain came closer with slow but large steps, not affected by the thread of Yao's blade.  
Yao's heart was beating rapidly in his chest, he was outnumbered. He could fight three men at the same time if at least two of them would be average fighters, but with the knowledge that they broke into the palace without any problem, that option became highly doubtable.

The thick browed captain walked past Yao towards the emperor's chair. He sat down, placed one leg over the other and slide his eyes to the Chinese emperor before him. "His imperial majesty Wang Yao, the emperor of the great and mighty China. It's a long and high title for a man of your size."

Yao wasn't affected by the insult, among his people he was of an average height. Besides, length had nothing to do with strength.

"Take whichever value item that you find, but leave my palace and my people alone." Yao spoke loud and clear. He kept a confident attitude in front of the pirate. With piercing eyes he stared at him, not looking away a single moment and barely blinking. Never he would show an enemy the fear he felt.

The pirate smirked widely. "No item nor treasure inside your palace is worthy enough for me, Yao. I want more than your worthless vases or the gold that your ancestors used to decorate your palace with."

Yao fought the urge to lick his lips nervously. There was only one thing that he could think of the pirate was aiming for, yet he had always been told that the royal treasures were kept secret from everyone outside of the imperial bloodline. "Why are you disturbing the peace in my palace?"

"I wouldn't have done it if the guards at the gate let me through right away. You could be a bit more welcoming, Yao." The pirate complained not even trying to whip his smirk of his face.

Yao clenched his hands tighter around the handle of his blade. His blood was boiling, how dared that filthy pirate call him inhospitable. "I will not welcome a man that calls an emperor by his first name without properly introducing himself." Yao forced himself to speak the words calmly.

The pirate leaned forward with his elbows on his legs. "And I will not introduce myself to a man that draws his sword at me. It rather makes me want to cut your throat, Yao." He emphasised Yao's name.

Yao did not react to the threat, he knew that the pirate captain needed him, otherwise he would have killed him the moment he walked in.

There was a moment of silence in which both, the British pirate and the Chinese emperor, stared at each other. In a battle for dominance they both waited until the other would give in and look away, but neither of them did.

A fourth pirate walked in. "Captain." He said and waited for his captain to answer.

The British captain simply raised his hand, not looking away from Yao.

"Aye, captain." The pirate said and waited in the doorframe.

The pirate captain changed position, as if the other pirate had been a sign that he could move again. He stuck his hand into his coat and revealed a scroll. "As you probably already figured, I'm here for a reason." He started and unrolled the map on top of the document Yao had been working on just before. "You see, I found this map and ever since I found it I have this urge to find it no matter what." He leaned with his elbows on Yao's desk and smirked widely at the Chinese emperor.

Yao quickly slide his eyes to the map, keeping all four pirates in the corners of his eyes and still aimed his sword at the captain. He stared at the Chinese riddles and tried to decode the coordinates. That was until he figured where the map was leading the pirates to. In a split second he stood before the pirate captain, holding the sharp point of his sword a mere inch away from the pirates throat. At the same moment two of the pirates at the door stood next to Yao, aiming their guns at his head.

"Where did you find that map!?" Yao snapped. The coordinates on the map lead directly to the Chinese treasure. The riddles were easy to decode for him, because he had been to the place before and knew how to get there. He knew exactly which and how to open or disarm the gates, pathways and traps within the miles long cave.

The pirate captain -who hadn't moved a muscles since Yao pointed his blade at his throat, apparently not impressed by Yao threat- grinned satisfied. "You seem to know what I'm talking about." He confirmed amused.

"How much do you know?" Yao almost hissed between his teeth. He ignored the guns against his head completely.

The pirate leaned back in Yao's chair and crossed his arms before his chest. "I've been in the cave, only to figure that I needed something to open the gate." He answered. "And you know what that is, don't you, Yao?"

"I will never give away those secrets." Yao spit out. Of course he knew what they needed. Blood. His blood, but he wouldn't give it to them.

"Blood of the Chinese imperial bloodline." The pirate captain said smirking. "I already know and that is exactly why I'm taking you with me."

Yao's was shocked that the pirates already knew that much about the treasure. He narrowed eyes before he spoke again. "I will never come with you."

The pirate captain licked his lips enjoyable. "Aye, I already figured you wouldn't come willingly. That is why I brought a little tool with me." He signalled the pirate at the door with a small hand gesture.

Yao, who had expected that the pirate would come back with a torture tool, gasped shocked when a fifth pirate walked in with Jin. Jin's hand were tied together and the pirate, who brought him in, pressed a long and filthy dagger against the throat of the Chinese prince. Yet Jin did not show fear nor anything else, except his uninterested expression, like always.

"Jin!" Yao called out shocked, before he looked back at the pirate captain. "Don't you dare hurting him!" He hissed. He grabbed the handle of his sword even tighter, not noticing that his knuckles were turning white.

The pirate smirked. "Lower your blade, I don't like to negotiate when threatened."

Yao licked his lips nervously, he did not want to lower his blade, yet he did not thrust the pirates with Jin either.

As if the pirate captain could hear Yao's thoughts, he turned to Jin slightly, before he looked back at Yao with his head crooked to the side.

Yao closed his eyes for a moment. He had to choose between the life of his younger brother and the imperial treasure. When he opened his eyes again, he lowered his blade with a sigh. He could never sacrifice his own brother for value objects.

His sword was taken from him, leaving him armless between pirates who had only two things in mind. Blood shedding and treasures.

The captain stood up from Yao's chair and walked closer to him. The pirates who aimed their guns at Yao, took a few steps back, but kept aiming at his head, making sure that he wouldn't run away.

The pirate captain lifted Yao's face with his hand. "I'm sure his imperial majesty the prince would become a good Emperor." He said in a sadistic tone.

Yao didn't looked up surprised nor shocked when the captain decided to take him with him without negotiating, because he knew what other option there was. Jin was the only one that shared the same blood, what meant the choice was the prince or the emperor.

The pirate captain turned to the door. "Let's take our royal guest to the ship, shall we?" He smirked at his fellow pirates.

The other pirates laughed hatefully and roughly pushed Yao to get him moving.

Yao looked hateful over his shoulder to the pirate who pushed him and walked to the door. He stopped when he walked past Jin and pulled him in a tight embrace burying his face in the crook of his brother's neck.

The captain suddenly turned to around. "You two." He pointed at two pirates. "Stay with the prince, until I send the message that you can let him go."

Yao turned abruptly to the pirate captain. "Don't you dare touch him!" He hissed. "You got me already, you don't need him as well."

The captain turned to Yao and smirked. "Don't worry. As long as you follow my orders, nothing will happen too your dear little brother."

Two pirates grabbed Yao rough by the arm and pulled him along, out of his study and the palace and brought him to the ship that was waiting for their arrival.

\---

Once on board, the pirates let go of Yao's arm and left him alone on the deck. Yao rubbed his arms knowing that they would be red from the firm grip of the pirates. There was no doubt that they were going to bruise. A little lost he looked around, he had no clue where the captain was, nor where he had to sleep or could sit to think over the events of the day.

"Aye mates!" The voice of the pirate captain sounded above the noise of the pirates. "Weigh anchor! We're going to get our treasure!"

A loud cheerful "Yarr" came from the massive group of pirates on the deck and soon they started with their work.

Yao ignored it and worked himself into the direction the captain's voice. When he managed to get through the massive mob of pirates, the captain was already almost at this cabin. Yao took a short sprint and grabbed his arm. "You still didn't introduce yourself nor did you tell me where I can rest during the night." He said annoyed. "A real gentleman would at least tell me as much."

Yao regretted his action as soon as the captain pinned him against the wooden wall of the cabin and stuck a knife into the wood only a few inched away from Yao's head. Where he got the knife from was a mystery to Yao, but it remind him that it was better to think before he act. "The name is Arthur Kirkland, but it'll be mister Kirkland or captain for you." The pirated said strict. "You are now a member of my crew and as the newest member your task is to keep the deck clean. If you know what is good for you, you'll start right now."

Yao's heart was beating rapidly in his chest, yet he didn't let a filthy pirate order him around. "I'm here to give you that treasure and for no other reason. I will not clean any deck." He told the captain loud and clear.

Arthur smirked. "It's either cleaning the deck or joining me in my cabin." He said licking his lips. He placed a hand on Yao's hip and slide it up, taking the fabric of the dark red Chinese shirt along, revealing some skin through the splits in the side of the shirt. "You may not be a woman, but you're sure looking like one and I'm sure your skin will feel just as smooth."

A satisfied cheer came from the other pirates and even a few –to Yao's disgust- dared to whistle at the sight of his skin. They had stopped working as soon as their captain had pinned the Chinese emperor against the wall. Neither of them wanted to miss anything from their captain's rage towards the emperor.

Yao turned pale and attempted to slap the pirate captain in the face. "I'm no lady of pleasure." He answered, trying to avoid the word 'whore'.

Arthur caught Yao's arm and bowed grinning towards his ear. "No." He whispered in his ear. "You're even better." He let go of Yao's arm, took a step back and smirked at the Chinese emperor. "Give our beloved emperor a bucket and a mop. He still has a lot of work before he can go to sleep."

Yao glared at Arthur, but didn't say a word, knowing that it wasn't going to help him in his current situation.

"As for your sleeping place. You can sleep with me in my cabin or with the crew." Arthur informed and before Yao could react he added: "I'm sure my crew will share my opinion about your appearance. It'll be your choose. My crew or me." He smirked sadistic. "You'll have enough time to think about it. Your work will not be done any time soon." With that he turned to his cabin and closed the door.

That very same moment a bucket and a mop were thrown into Yao's direction. In a reflex his duck away from them, not wanted to be hit by them. He had to force himself to pick them up and shook his head irritated when he started his search for water, maybe it was best just to bare with it until they would arrive at the hidden island.

\---

It was already dark for hours when Yao was finally done cleaning. It had took him twice as long to clean the deck, only because the pirates had done everything to annoy him all day long. They had dirtied the places where he had already cleaned on purpose and had been walking in his way all the time. That was why he had been glad when the last pirates left the deck to go to sleep. After that he had been done in no time.

During cleaning he had decided that he would search for a spot on the deck itself to sleep. There was no way that he would sleep in the same bed as Arthur nor in the same room as the other filthy pirates. Yet he seemed out of luck when it suddenly start to rain.

Yao kicked away the bucket he had used before -to clean the deck- and walked exhausted, sodden and irritated to Arthur's cabin. He would never sleep together with the captain, but he could always search for a spot in some corner. At least it would be dry and probably a lot warmer then on the deck.

He carefully and quietly opened the door, not wanting to wake the pirate captain. There was no doubt that the pirate captain would try to force him in bed as soon as he noticed Yao was walking in.

The room Yao walked in was a larger room then he had expected, yet ever square meter was seized with objects that the pirate probably stole from many different places, making the room a lot smaller.

In the middle of the room stood a large round table. The table was filled with golden plates, silver cutlery and glasses decorated with many different kind of valuable minerals.

On the right of the room was a bookshelf and in the left corner was a bed, barely large enough to fit two people in. It confirmed Yao's decision not to sleep in it together with Arthur.

Then Yao saw Arthur sitting before his desk –on the left of the room- staring at paperwork that lay before his nose. Whether it was a map or something else, Yao could not see.

The captain's hat and coat were hanging on a pin on the wall, what left Arthur in only a white blouse and a dark leather pants.

The Chinese emperor, was a little shocked that Arthur was still awake. He carefully closed the door, because he thought Arthur hadn't notice him yet. Maybe he could quietly crawl in a corner before the pirate would look up. He walked on his toes to the corner on his right. It was as far away from the bed as possible and it was probably the only corner that was not packed with Arthur's stuff.

"The bed is on the other side of the room." Arthur suddenly said.

Yao froze in shock. Quickly he looked over his shoulder, but Arthur did not look up from his work and continued staring at whatever he was staring at.

"I'm not going to your bed." Yao said and sat down in the corner he had picked.

"Then what are you doing here?" Arthur asked with a slightly irritated tone.

"Shelter for the rain." Yao said and tried to find a way to sleep as comfortable as possible.

Arthur shove his chair back and took a few steps into Yao's direction. "I don't believe I ever allowed you to sleep in my cabin as long as it is not in my bed." Arthur glanced irritated at Yao. "Undress, dry yourself and go to bed." He quickly ordered.

Yao, who wasn't planning to sleep next to the pirate, stared angry at Arthur. "I'll never sleep with you." He said and stood up, walking to the door. If he wasn't allowed to sleep on the ground in Arthur's cabin, than he would create his own spot on the deck. It would never be as dry as it was in the cabin, but maybe he could find a way to block out the rain just slightly.

Arthur walked after him and pushed against the door when Yao tried to open it. He bowed to Yao's neck and pressed his nose against his skin.

Goose bumps covered Yao's body. He could smell the sweat of Arthur's body, meaning that he really needed to take a bath. "You smell terrible." He mentioned without thinking about it.

Arthur took a deep breath and buried his nose into Yao's wet hair. "You do not." He mumbled against the Chinese emperor's skin.

Yao shivered and was just planning to push Arthur away from him and run outside when Arthur spoke again. "Go to bed, Yao. I already slept and will not join you tonight. Sleep, you'll need it. You have to keep the deck clean tomorrow."

Yao kept quiet for a short moment, not sure if he could trust the pirates words. He chuckled sarcastically. "And how will I know you won't rape me in my sleep?" He tried to duck away from Arthur's face, but the pirate kept him on his place, only pressing his nose closer to his neck.

Arthur chuckled as well, only a lot more satisfied than Yao had done. "I want them willingly, Yao. I want them to scream my name when they come. I want them to beg for me. You won't beg for me. Not yet that is." He whispered in the emperor's ear.

Yao closed his eyes when Arthur told him that. It was exactly what he didn't want to hear from the filthy pirate. "I will never beg for you." He growled to the doorframe.

Arthur pressed his body against Yao and pressed a kissed against the crook of his neck. "Never say never, Yao." He said and then stepped away from the Chinese male.

Yao let out a shuttering breath. He brought his hand to the place the pirate just kissed and tried to rub away the filthy feeling. He turned around and stared at Arthur's back, until he sat down behind his desk again.

A moment Yao doubted what he should do. Of course he would rather sleep in a bed, yet he was not sure if the pirate was trustworthy enough.

Still doubting, he walked to the bed in the other corner of the room. Once there he heard Arthur getting up from his chair. Within a second, Yao turned around. He bend slightly through his knees, stretched one arm with the palm of his hand in Arthur direction, while his other hand was still in front of his chest, ready to attack Arthur whenever he came to close.

But Arthur did not come into his direction, he walk to the other side of the room and grabbed two pieces of cloth from the table. Then he walked to Yao and threw the cloths on the bed. He stared at Yao for a few more second before he turned around and sat back behind his desk.

Yao was a little surprised and turned himself to the cloths Arthur gave him. The first one was just a simple cloth and Yao assumed he had to dry himself with it. The second cloth seemed to be a long nightdress. Yao glared at Arthur's back. "I'm no woman, I will not wear this." He growled irritated.

"I'm not keeping you from sleeping naked." Arthur said without looking over his shoulder. He took a piece of paper and wrote something down with a long white writing feather.

Yao bit his lip and shook his head. Sleeping naked with a pirate around was probably worse than wearing a nightdress. He quickly looked over his shoulder again –making sure the pirate wasn't looking at him- and then took of his sodden dark red shirt.

He dried himself with the cloth, until he felt two eyes staring at his him. He did not dare to look over his shoulder, scared that he would met with seductive eyes. He quickly took the nightdress from the bed and pulled it over his head, even before he took off his pants.

Still feeling Arthur's eyes on his back, he pulled his white sodden pants down, making sure that the nightdress would cover everything that should be covered. He got rid of his shoes before he could pull his pants off and dried his legs and feet with the cloth.

The last thing he did was taking the fibre, that kept his long dark hair together in a ponytail, out of his hair and dry his manes.

Yao could feel that Arthur turned away and soon he heard the scratching of the writing feather on the paper again. He took a deep relieved breath and grabbed his wet clothes. Not sure what to do with them, he draped them over a chair that stood next to the round table in the middle of the room. Slowly he walked to the bed and crawled into it. The sweaty smell in the bed was exactly the same as he had smelled on Arthur, it made him wonder when the bed was cleaned last time. He almost gagged at the idea and forced himself not to think about it.

It took him a whole hour before he managed to do so and slowly fell asleep, hoping that Arthur would keep his promise not to join him in bed.

~To be continued~


	2. Chapter 2

### Chapter 2

With an irritated groan Yao turned on his side and buried his face into the stinking pillow. The fish smell in the sheet entered his nose, making him feel sick and filthy. Slowly he turned to his other side and forced himself to open his eyes.

With his mind still clouded by sleep, he did not recognise the room right away, let alone did he notice the rocking of the ship. He scanned his surroundings with lazy eyes and noticed that it was already light outside. Yet none of his servant had come to wake him. 

Wondering why that was, he closed his eyes again and slowly pushed himself up. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around him out of habit. Every morning when his servants woke him, he sat in his bed with a blanket wrapped around him for another fifteen minutes, until he would be fully awake.

\---

Suddenly the door went open. Yao opened his eyes again and looked at the person in the doorway. Within a split second he was wide awake and remembered where he was.

His eyes met with Arthur’s shortly and then he quickly closed his eyes again. Nothing was as terrible as seeing the face of your kidnapper in the morning.

Yao heard footsteps coming closer. Arthur’s boots hitting the wooden floor made a loud ticking noise until they stopped before the bed.

The emperor took a deep breath. Arthur’s expression had been unreadable when the pirate stood in the doorway, because of that he knew that whatever Arthur had in mind, it was not something he was going to like.

He waited until Arthur would speak to him, but the Briton did not. It worried Yao slightly. He was in a stubborn mood and wanted to keep his eyes closed until Arthur would be angry, yet at the same time he wasn’t sure if he really wanted the pirate to get mad. It was clear that the pirate had kept his promise not to join him during the night, but Arthur probably wouldn’t be such a gentleman after Yao crossed the pirate’s lines.

A little hesitant Yao opened his eyes and slide them up to the pirates face. Arthur’s arms were crossed before his chest and he stared slightly irritated down to the emperor.

“May I ask you, why you are not cleaning the deck, Yao?” Arthur’s voice was calm but strict.

Yao took a deep breath and lowered his eyes slightly. As he had expected Arthur was angry. He fought the urge to lick his lips -nervous for what would come- and then answered Arthur. “It was an exhausting day for me yesterday, as you probably know.” He spoke confident. “There for my body needed more rest then normally.”

A glint of anger was visible in Arthur’s eyes and he licked his lips, Yao assumed it was to control his anger. “I think there are only two reasons for your behaviour, Yao.” He spoke. “Either you’re trying to get me angry or you changed your mind about giving me your body.”

Yao shock slightly and wanted to reject both options, but Arthur cut him off even before he could open his mouth.

“If you’re trying to make me angry, I would advise you to stop.” Arthur said, staring at the emperor with a penetrating glare. “If you decided to share my bed, you can rest as long as you want. You’ll need your energy during the night.”

A red embarrassed blush spread over Yao’s face. He wanted to react to Arthur’s so called advises and tell the pirate that he was filthy and disgusting. Yet he kept his mouth wisely shut, he would only make it worse and that was the last thing he wanted. “I’ll clean the deck.” He said annoyed and stood up from the bed. When he walked pasted Arthur his heart beat rapidly, scared that the pirate would pull him back.

But till Yao’s relieve Arthur didn’t. He forced himself to calm down and walked to the chair with his clothes. When he touched them he noticed immediately that they were still moist from the rain. A soft sigh escaped his lips. Hopefully it was sunny enough to dry them while he wore them.

Arthur suddenly walked away from the bed. Yao could hear that from the sound of his boots. The Chinese emperor looked over his shoulder to see where the pirate was. 

Arthur stood with his back towards the emperor and walked with short and lazy steps around the room. It was clear that he wasn’t doing anything specific except for being there while Yao tried to dress.

Biting his lip and trying his best not to fire an irritated phase to the pirate’s head, Yao start to dress.

Like he had done the night before during undressing, Yao made sure that Arthur would see as less of his body as possible. With his back towards the pirate, he pulled his pants on first, making sure that the nightdress would cover his legs and bum, until they were hidden behind white fabric. 

Then he pulled his arms out of the sleeves of the nightdress, but did not pull it off over his head. Instead he took his deep red shirt and slid his arms into the moist sleeves. In one quick movement he pulled the nightdress off and pulled his own shirt over his head. 

When he clasped his shirt on the front, he suddenly noticed that he hadn’t felt Arthur’s eyes even once. Slowly he turned around and saw that the pirate captain was standing in front of a map that hung on the wall. Whether Arthur hadn’t looked at him on purpose or because he had been too busy, Yao did not knew, but whatever it was he couldn’t be happier that he hadn’t felt his emerald eyes.

The emperor looked through the room, searching for a mirror. He had to fix his hair, because even without seeing it, he knew it looked terrible. He found a small one in the corner of the room. While he walked to it, he suddenly felt and heard his stomach growl and protest. Yao closed his eyes a few second and remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything ever since the pirates kidnapped him.

With the thought that he could search for some food after he was done with his morning ritual, he walked closer to the mirror. As he had expected, his hair was pointing out into every possible direction. In the absence of a brush, Yao decided to brush his hair with only his fingers and ran his fingers through his long manes easier than probably expected by others. His hair was smooth and could be brushed out of tangle quite easily. 

The emperor suddenly heard Arthur walking away from the map. Within the mirror he followed him, until he was out of sight. He heard a drawer opening and soon the rumbling sound of taking something out of the drawer.

The drawer closed and Arthur’s footsteps came closer. Soon Yao could follow him within the mirror again and saw he was walking towards him. His heart beat fast and nervously for what would come.  
Arthur stopped behind his back staring at him through the mirror.

Yao stared at him for only a short while, seeing a somewhat soft look in the pirate’s eyes that looked rather out of place. Suddenly Arthur lifted his hand and showed Yao a silver comb.

A little hesitant, Yao looked to the comb and back to Arthur in the mirror. He slowly took over the comb and mumbled a soft ‘thank you’ before he started to brush his hair with the comb.

He stopped when he suddenly felt Arthur’s hand running through his already combed hair. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, forcing himself not to react. As if nothing was the matter, the emperor searched for the fibre he used to keep his hair together with and tied his hair in a ponytail, ignoring the British hand.

Arthur suddenly grabbed his wrists, keeping him from tying his hair. He buried his face into Yao’s hair and took a deep breath. “Keep it loose.” He mumbled with his lips against the back of the emperor’s ear.

Yao shock and looked into the mirror to see what the Britain was doing. He saw one emerald eyes staring at him, while the other was hiding behind his dark hair. He felt his cheeks turning red in anger and embarrassment and pulled away from the pirate. “I rather work with my hair tied together.” He said and tied his hair further. 

When he was done he looked into the mirror again. Arthur still stood behind him, the soft expression the emperor had seen before had disappeared and took place for a slightly irritated glare.

Yao looked away from the pirate and turned around, ready to start his work on the deck. That was when his stomach growled another time in protest. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again when the annoying feeling lay down slightly.

Arthur hadn’t moved a muscle and stood before the emperor looking down on him. “Breakfast is over.” He said; his irritation clearly audible in his voice. “Dinner will be served at sun down.” Arthur said and then turned around, walking to his desk.

Yao shock a little when Arthur told him that and looked bewildered to the pirate’s back. “You can’t leave me without...”

The British pirate cut of his sentence and looked over his shoulder at Yao. “Can’t I?” He asked not expecting an answer. “Breakfast is at sunset and dinner at sundown. Be sure to be on time the next time.” Then he turned back to his desk again.

Yao took a deep breath in an attempt to cool himself down. He would find himself some food, a simple apple was enough to lay down the hunger for a short while. He turned to the door and planned to walk outside, but Arthur stopped him with words.

“Before I forget,” The pirate said. “Stealing food will result in another day without eating.” He didn’t not look over his shoulder and kept his eyes on the work before his nose.

Yao sighed out and looked over his shoulder. “Can you read minds?” He asked calm but irritated.

Arthur looked over his shoulder to the Chinese emperor with a satisfied smirked. “I know how the mind of my crew works.” He said.

Yao narrowed his eyes in hate. “Don’t compare me with pirates.” He said and opened the door to the deck. 

“Apparently your mind works the same as theirs.” Arthur commented and laughed slightly sadistic.

Knowing that he would think about the pirate’s comment and would analyse it the rest of the day, Yao walked out of the cabin, letting the door fall in its lock a little harder than needed. But he did not care, because when he saw the mess the pirates had made on the deck within such a short amount of time, he wished he had closed that door even harder and louder to get rid of his frustration and irritation.

\---

Yao hung against the railing at the front of the ship. He stared quietly over the sea, while he actually had to continue cleaning the deck.

He had stopped cleaning not too long ago, because he thought he deserved a break. He had been cleaning nonstop while the other pirates were uselessly wandering over the deck, only to irritate the Chinese male and give him more work than he already had.

Yao took a deep breath and stared that the sunset. His stomach was still growling, impatiently waiting for dinner to come. But it wasn’t going to be long now, the sun was already slowly disappearing under the horizon, colouring the sky red and orange.

Suddenly a loud ticking sound was audible. It sounded like a metal object was slammed against a hollow object. The first thing that came into Yao’s mind was a ladle against the bottom of a large pan, but that could be just him imagination combined with his hunger. Never the less he walked to the middle of the deck to see what was happening.

He soon saw that his imagination hadn’t let him down. On the other side of the deck stood a pirate with a long beard and a giant pan filled with food next to him. Before him formed a long line of hungry pirates. They all waited for their turn, one even more impatiently then the other.

Yao licked his lips. Something told him that if he wouldn’t get in that line quickly there wouldn’t be a single bite left from him. Without hesitating, he walked with large steps towards the line and put himself behind a pirate that was even shorter than he was.

Yet he wasn’t allowed to stand there for long, as a giant pirate suddenly pushed him out of the line. “Out of the way, Shorty.” He said grinning widely to the emperor and took Yao’s place in the line.

Yao looked at the pirate a little confused at first, but soon he glared at him and decided to quickly search for another spot before he would really end up another day without food.

He ended up between two pirates, who looked at him with a devilish chuckle. It didn’t make the emperor comfortable, but at least they didn’t push him out of the line.

The row slowly moved forward and during waiting Yao noticed that the pirate behind him came closer every time they could take a step forward.

Yao looked carefully over his shoulder, but didn’t look the pirate in the eyes on purpose. If he did there was no doubt that the pirate would react to it in whichever way he wanted to react. He took a small step forward to compensate the distance between the pirate before him and behind him.

The pirate behind him took a step forward as well, making the space between the two pirates smaller and enclosing the emperor. Suddenly Yao felt a hand against his left hip. His heart beat sped up and his eyes widened. He wanted to turn around and kick the pirate out of the line, but he kept himself from doing so, since there was a huge change that he would be the next to get kicked out of the line.

As irritated as he was, he tried his best to stay calm. “Sir.” He started. “I’d appreciate it if you would stop touching me.” He did not turn around to look at the pirate and kept staring at the back of the pirate in front of him.

The only reaction Yao received was a low satisfied chuckle and the discontent of a second hand to touch his right hip.

Getting even more irritated, Yao looked over his shoulder at the pirate with narrowed eyes. “Don’t touch me.” He said with an annoyed overtone. 

He quietly glared at the pirate who didn’t seem to be impressed by it. Then the pirate’s hand suddenly moved back to the emperor’s bum.

Yao shock and moved forward in a reflex, bumping against the pirate in front of him who turned around irritated. The Chinese male held his hands up, quickly telling the pirate he was sorry and took a step back. The pirate behind him then took his chance and pinch Yao’s buttock with both his hands.

That was the moment something snapped within Yao. Nobody was allowed to touch him without his permission, not Arthur nor any of the other pirates and the brutal looking pirate behind him was no exception.

Within one swift motion, Yao turned around to the pirate and worked him against the ground with a simple push with the palm of his hand.

The pirate stared confused at the emperor, who was still standing in fighting position, ready to attack again whenever anyone dared to come to close.

“I told you to keep your hands to yourself.” Yao spoke angry to the pirate.

The other pirates all turned towards Yao and the licentious pirate. They seemed to be surprised by the strength the tiny Chinese male possessed, but it was not for long. As soon as all the pirates woke up from their confusing, a few already tried to punish Yao for attacking their fellow pirate.

Yao saw them coming from the corner of his eyes and quickly worked them against the floor one by one as well. It confused the emperor a little; he had expected the pirates to be a lot stronger then they seemed to be, especially because they broke into his palace the other day so easily.

Suddenly a voice quiet down the battle sounds around Yao.

“What is the meaning of this?” Without losing its calmness Arthur’s voice raised above all other sounds.

All pirates suddenly stopped with what they were doing and took a few steps away from Yao. 

The Chinese emperor ended alone in the middle of the circle. He was slightly confused and looked around him. A sadistic smirk was spread over the pirates’ faces. They had planned this before, Yao could see it in their eyes and it worried him.

A pair of footsteps stopped behind the emperor’s back. Yao closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again when he turned himself around, looking confidently into the captain’s emerald green eyes.

“Explain yourself, Yao.” Arthur said with a raised eyebrow. The pirate’s expression was blank, what made it harder for Yao to guess in what kind of trouble he was.

The emperor suddenly straightened his back. He had defended himself from getting raped by a bunch of filthy pirates, even though it was probably a set up to show the emperor his place. Nevertheless he hadn’t done anything wrong and therefore didn’t need to be scared for Arthur’s reaction. 

“I was purposefully touched at places one should not touch without permission.” He said and folded his arms within his sleeves.

Arthur’s expression darkened. “And there for you attack my crew?” He asked calm.

Yao was wary, but he didn’t allow himself to make it visible in his expressions. “I was merely defending myself.” He told the pirate captain calm. Offended that Arthur had claimed he had attacked the pirate with a poor reason, he glared at the pirate captain.

Arthur licked his lips once and took a step into Yao’s direction, forcing the Chinese male to look up. “I believe you do not understand, Yao.” He started. “You may have the highest rank in China. On board of my ship you have the lowest. I won’t let anyone lay a finger on my crew, not even the emperor of China.”

Yao noticed that Arthur tried to overawe him with his dominance, but the Chinese emperor wasn’t impressed. He hadn’t looked away from the pirate even once and waited until he would continue his lecture.

Arthur, who wasn’t amused that Yao refused to react, continued after a short silence. “Normally I would torture someone to dead for something like that. In your case I would rape you before I would torture you to dead and then sail back and capture the last one in the Chinese imperial blood line.”

Yao’s eyes immediately widened in shock when he realised what Arthur just said. “Jin,” he said softly and lowered eyes. He didn’t care what the pirate had planned to do with him, but he did mind it if Arthur would hurt his younger brother. Yao scowl at the pirate, but kept quiet, knowing that words would only make his situation worse. 

Arthur continued strict. “I’m aware that I did not explain the rules to you properly, therefore I will be mild and reduce your punishment.” He said and grabbed Yao’s jaw roughly, forcing him to look at him. “But next time I won’t be so nice to you, savvy?”

Yao stared quietly into Arthur’s piercing eyes. He didn’t knew what the word ‘savvy’ meant, but he expected that Arthur asked him if he understood what he had said. 

Knowing that his punishment would be reduced to only rape, Yao unwillingly brought out a soft ‘Yes’. If getting raped would keep the pirate away from Jin, he would at least try to bare with it.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and grabbed the emperor’s jaw even tighter. “Yes, what?” He asked, annoyed that Yao didn’t spoke to him in a proper way this first time.

Yao frowned and closed his eyes when he squeezed out the words that he detested most at that very moment. “Yes, captain.”

Arthur finally let go of Yao’s jaw, but kept looking at him with the same strict and penetrating look in his eyes. “Wait in my study. I’m not done with you yet.” He said and turned to the other pirates.

Yao bit his tongue, forcing himself not to react. Irritated and unwillingly he walked into the direction of Arthur’s cabin, rubbing his sore cheeks from Arthur’s firm grip.

Once he was at the cabin, he opened the door and looked over his shoulder once. Arthur looked at him and it was as if he was waiting until the Chinese emperor would be inside. It made Yao curious for what Arthur was planning.

He turned to the door, opened it, went inside and closed the door behind him. He turned to the door and waited a few seconds. Then he opened the door ajar and licked his lips nervously, scared that Arthur would see the door opening again. 

Yao couldn’t see what was happening on deck, but he could hear it and that was good enough for now. He squatted in front of the opening between the door and the doorframe and pricked his ears.

The pirates were still quiet and only the sound of one pair of footsteps could be heard. It were slow and controlled steps and because of that Yao expected them to be from Arthur.

“Tell me, who was the course of all this?” Arthur broke the silence.

There was a moment of silence before one of the pirates answered the captain’s question. “He deserved it, Captain.”

Arthur’s footsteps were audible before he spoke again. “Is that so?” Arthur asked faked surprised. “And why, mister Brooks, do you think he deserved to be touched by you?”

Yao could swear that he heard irritation in the pirate captain’s voice. He frowned slightly, wondering why that was. He quickly pricked his ears again and made sure that he wouldn’t miss anything from the conversation on deck.

“I’d advise you to keep your hands of my properties, mister Brooks.” Arthur spoke again, this time the irritation was even clearer.

Yao narrowed his eyes irritated. “His property?” he mumbled irritated to himself. How dared that pirate to even think he was someone’s property? He was no one’s property and that wouldn’t change in the coming dynasties.

Annoyed by what he just had heard, he stood up and closed the door. He didn’t want to hear more of it, because he knew that he would only become more irritated then he already was.

He walked to the round table in the middle of the room and sat down on the chair next to it. He hadn’t felt his stomach growling since he kicked the licentious pirate out of the line, but as soon as he sat down his stomach start protesting again. He groaned low and irritated, placed his head on top of the table and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Then he quietly cursed himself, knowing that, after what happened, he wouldn’t get any food until the next morning. It was going to be a very long night for him.

The door suddenly opened and it shocked Yao slightly. He sat up straight and looked over his shoulder to Arthur.

The smell of warm food overwhelmed the Chinese emperor, making his stomach growl even more. He closed his eyes and slowly turned back to face the table.

He heard Arthur coming closer and with that the food’s smell. His mouth start to water and he cursed Arthur under his breath. How dared that bastard to eat in front of someone who hadn’t ate for one and a half day.

Yao heard Arthur sit down on a different chair. Then something was placed before his nose, something that smelled like food. He slowly opened his eyes and found a bowl of stew before him. He looked up and saw Arthur sitting on the chair next to him with another bowl of stew. He slowly slid his eyes from Arthur’s bowl to Arthur’s face and found the pirate staring at him. 

“Thank you.” Yao said a little bit stubborn. He never expected that the pirate captain had a generous side. Then he grabbed the bowl with two hands and drunk the bouillon first.

Yao couched disgusted after he swallowed the first gulp. The taste of the stew was horrible. It tasted burned and musty and apparently the cook had tried to hide the taste with an enormous amount of salt.

Even when the taste was horrible, Yao’s stomach was screaming for something to eat. Closing his eyes and forcing himself to block the taste out, he drank the rest of the bouillon as fast as he could. He placed the bowl back on the table and looked at the unidentifiable pieces of meat and vegetable on the bottom of the bowl.

In the absence of chopsticks, Yao cautious took a piece -that he thought was a vegetable- out of the bowl and stared at it for a moment. He closed his eyes and putted the piece into his mouth.

Just as he had expected the vegetables tasted as horrible as the bouillon. He quickly chewed the piece -with a carrot-like structure- and swallowed it as fast as he could. He couldn’t believe someone could ruin a dish like this and could even make a vegetable loose it’s flavour.

Yao looked at Arthur and saw how the pirate drunk the bouillon out of the bowl and placed the empty bowl back on the table like nothing was the matter with the stew.

The pirate stood up from his chair and walked into the direction of the bed. All of a suddenly he start unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off, revealing the tight muscles in his arms, shoulders and back.

Yao was stunned, both because Arthur undressed while he was still in the same room and because of the pirate’s well shaped body. He slowly took another piece of food out of his bowl and ate it, while his eyes followed the smooth lines of Arthur’s body.

“About your punishment.” Arthur suddenly said.

Yao woke up out of, what seemed to be, a daydream. Because Arthur had turned around, the emperor’s eyes had been fixed on the pirate’s abs. He quickly looked up, met with the pirate’s eyes and then quickly turned his eyes to the bowl before his nose. He saw it was almost empty and realised that he hadn’t taste a single bite of the disgusted stew. An embarrassed blush appeared on his cheeks when he realised that he had enjoyed the short moment of staring at Arthur’s body. He closed his eyes and cursed himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he looked straight into emerald green eyes. He suddenly realised that the pirate’s well shaped body was going to top him the rest of the night and it made Arthur’s body suddenly a lot less interesting.

“What about my punishment?” the emperor asked carefully, when Arthur didn’t continue.

Arthur sat down on the bed and pulled his boots out one by one. “Tomorrow before breakfast, you’ll go to the kitchen. I want you to sort out the rotten food. Do the same with the supplies down deck. Clean both the kitchen and down deck and refilled the kitchen with supplies.”

Yao waited for more to come but Arthur didn’t spoke another word. “Is that everything?” The Chinese emperor blurted out before he knew it.

Arthur looked up and raised an eyebrow, before he started smirking. “Don’t get your hopes up, Yao. The last time someone dared to cleaned the kitchen was weeks maybe even months ago.”

Yao slowly turned pale when he thought about the filthy kitchen. He looked at his, not jet empty, bowl and shove it away from him. Suddenly he knew why the stew had tasted musty.

Nevertheless Yao sighed relieved. He wasn’t going to be raped and even a dirty kitchen or rotten food couldn’t ruin that relief. 

“That was a sigh of relief.” Arthur mentioned surprised and curious.

Yao knew that it was better not to tell the pirate what he actually had thought his punishment would be. He didn’t want to offer the pirate captain ideas. “It’s not important.” He said and with that hoped the pirate would lay down the subject.

But of course Arthur didn’t. The pirate stood up, walked towards Yao and stopped behind the emperor. He hooked his finger behind the fibre that kept Yao’s hair in a ponytail and pulled it out of the male’s hair. Then he gently ran his fingers through the soft manes. “Don’t keep secrets from your captain, Yao.” He said softly. “It could cost you your head.”

Yao froze when the, still shirtless, captain came closer and ran his hands through his hair. Biting his lip he pushed the hand away from him and took the fibre back. He tied his hair back in a ponytail and stood up from his chair. “I am relieved because I thought that you wanted me to be involved into you vulgar fantasies.” Yao spoke. “I’m pleased that I was wrong.”

Arthur smirked, something that made Yao wary. He brought his hand to Yao’s mouth and slowly ran his thumb over the emperor’s bottom lip. “I wouldn’t mind it.” He said and licked his lips.

A shiver ran down Yao’s spine. He pulled away from Arthur and turned to the door. He still needed to clean the deck and he decided that this was the perfect moment to do so. “I told you before and will tell you again. I will never share your bed out of my own free will.”

Yao wanted to walk away, but Arthur grabbed his arms and prevented him from leaving. The emperor turned back to Arthur shocked, not knowing what the pirate had in mind.

“Willingly or not. In the end I will have you.” Arthur spoke. The smirk had vanished from his lips and made place for a grimace. “Try to get use to it and come to me out of your own free will, because I ain’t very nice when I run out of patience.”

Yao swallowed. In the back of his head he already knew Arthur was going to force him one day or another, yet hearing it from the pirate shocked him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Good luck forcing me.” He said daring and pulled himself loose from Arthur’s grip.

Without another word, he walked to the door, opened it and left to clean the deck, leaving Arthur alone in his study.

\---

Yao was done quicker than he had expected. Most of the pirates were already down deck and the last few were gone before Yao knew it, what had made his work easier. 

Reluctantly he walked back to Arthur’s cabin, scared for the things that the pirate might have thought about while he was away.

He opened the door and was surprised to find Arthur in bed facing the wall. Yao took a deep breath and shook his head before he got into the room. Not sure what he should do, he walked to the bed and looked at the amount of space there was left for him. 

When he decided that he could sleep next to Arthur without lying against the pirate, he quickly changed himself in the nightdress Arthur had gave him the night before.

When Yao turned towards the bed he startled and took a step back. Arthur sat on the edge of the bed and watched the Chinese emperor quietly with a small grin on his face, apparently satisfied that he had scared the Chinese male.

“Could you at least make some sound when you wake up?” Yao complained and pulled the fibre of his ponytail out of his hair, putting it on the table. He doubted for a moment if he should leave and sleep with the crew, but after what happened that day his conscious told him he would be safer sleeping next to Arthur.

Arthur huffed amused. “You’re sleeping against the wall.” He said and stood up. With folded arms he waited until Yao would do what he told him and would lie down.

Yao stared at him for a moment. “Why?” He asked suspicious. “Because I can’t run away when I’m lying there?” He walked hesitant and displeased to the bed and crawled in it. He faced the wall and made sure to lie down as far against it as possible.

Arthur smirked. “That’s just a nice bonus.” He said and lay down next to Yao. He wrapped an arm around Yao’s waist and buried his face into the long manes, spooning with the emperor.

Yao gasped and jumped away from the pirate as far as he could. Because he already was as close to the wall as he possibly could be, that wasn’t far. “It would please me if you let go of me.” He spoke, trying to control the annoyance in his voice and quietly hoping that the pirate would listen to him.

Yao could feel Arthur’s mouth curling into a smirk against the skin of his neck.

“Get used to it, Yao.” Arthur simply said and with that cut of the subject.

“Bastard.” Yao growled irritated. He fisted his hands and tried to convince himself that Arthur would keep his hands to himself, apart from the arm around his waist.

After a few minutes Yao noticed that Arthur’s breath rhythm became slower, telling the Chinese emperor that he was slowly falling asleep or maybe already was asleep. He sighed relieved; at least he didn’t have to worry about being touched anymore.

He grabbed Arthur’s arm and attempted to move it away, but Arthur held him firmly and Yao was scared that he wouldn’t be able to move the pirate’s arm away without waking him. He bit his lips and decided that maybe it was better to leave it around his waist. 

He pressed his face into the pillow and took a deep breath, letting out all the negative energy that had piled up during the day. 

It only took a few more minutes before his eyelids became heavier and with one last deep breath, he fell asleep.

~To be continued~


	3. Chapter 3

### Chapter 3

Yao froze in the door opening of the kitchen. He stared inside and had to keep himself from letting his mouth fall open. Arthur had warned him about the mess, yet the Chinese male never had expected what he saw and smelled.

With a hand covering his mouth and nose to block out the smell, the emperor's eyes slide over the filthy floor. The wood wasn't only covered with dirt. Thick layers of squashed and rotten food were spread all over it. Only a small path was clear and lead to the stove in the back.

The crates filled with food, where Arthur had told him about, were pilled against the walls and reached 'till the roof.

When Yao looked into an open crate with apples, he saw that most of them were rotten and mouldy. He remembered the stew he ate the night before and it's musty taste. The thought made him feel sick again; there was no doubt that the taste was caused by rotten food.

\---

All of a suddenly, the Chinese emperor was pushed out of the doorway and almost landed in the boxes with rotten apples.

Yao looked over his shoulder to see who pushed him aside as rough as he had done and his eyes fell on the fat cook from the day before.

The pirate was almost as round as a ball. He had a giant beard and a moustache that reached from one cheek to another, that waved, in a kind of funny way, along with the air he blew out through his nose. To finish it off, the cook was bold. The bare skin on his head glistered in the light of the candle's that hang on the walls.

The cook looked irritated down at the Asian, as if he was telling Yao to leave his territory, and waddled to the kitchen-range.

Yao whipped his clothes as clean as possible, until he heard footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Arthur coming closer. A soft sigh escaped his lips. He had hoped he wouldn't see the male until he was done cleaning the kitchen, but apparently he was out of luck.

Arthur placed a heavy hand on top of Yao's shoulder. "Yao, will be clean the kitchen today. I expect that he won't be a burden." The pirate captain said. He let go of Yao's shoulder and left again without another word.

Yao looked over his shoulder, while he wondered why the pirate had thought it was necessary to grab his shoulder. To the emperor the action was nothing more than a superfluous touch, one that annoyed him even more than the filthy kitchen.

\---

Knowing that he still had an enormous amount of work to do, Yao rolled his sleeves up and looked around to see where he should start cleaning.

He quickly figured that if he could find two empty boxes he could use them to sort out the food. One he could use for the rotten food, the other for the edible food.

The emperor walked through the kitchen and found a few boxes in the back, next to the kitchen ranch. The way they were piled up, it looked like someone had emptied them -probably the cook- and just threw them out of the way, until someone felt the urge to place them somewhere else.

Yao grabbed two crates and made sure he wouldn't get in the way of the, obvious irritated, cook. The last thing he wanted was to make the pirate angry, because he knew that in the end he would be blamed for it, even if the cook was at fault.

After he managed to get the boxes and placed them next to the entrance of the kitchen, the emperor grabbed the first filled crate. Without complaining he started sorting the food.

It didn't take long before he figured that the crates were three-quarter filled with rotten food. The remaining part was still edible if they would consume it quickly.

The Chinese emperor shook his head to himself, wondering how those pirates could leave and use the rotten food like this. Not only was it filthy, it was also extremely unhealthy to eat it and even to be around it all the time.

It didn't take him long to fill a crate with rotten apples. He lifted it with both hands and carried it out of the kitchen. The crate wasn't the lightest, but with a bit of trouble he managed to get it on deck.

Once there he looked around him. He was searching for a place to leave the boxes, but instead of finding a place, he got distracted by something else.

His eyes stopped when he noticed Arthur standing on the front of the ship. He had his arms folded before his chest and was discussing something with another pirate.

Yao wanted to ask the pirate captain where he could leave the crates, but after he took a few steps he changed his mind. He didn't know Arthur that well yet, but there was one thing that he did know; the pirate captain wasn't a patient man. Interrupting Arthur was probably not the best idea.

Yao looked around him to find a spot where the crates wouldn't be a bother to anyone, but where ever he looked, the deck was filled with stuff.

Quietly he stared at the crates, thinking about a solution for the rotting food. Maybe it was better to throw the food over the railing. If he wouldn't, there was a huge change that Arthur wanted them to eat the rotten food first. The thought made the emperor gag.

He didn't need to think about it twice and pushed the crate to the railing. He grabbed the sides, lifted the crate and pressed it against the edge of the railing. With a bit of trouble he managed to tip it. He shook it a few times, pulled the crate back and checked if it was completely empty.

With the crate in his hands he walked back to the kitchen. Once there he immediately noticed the burning smell. Quickly he looked through the room to find the source of the smell, only to find a giant pot on the stove in the back. Smoke was coming from it and even from a distance Yao knew that the cook was burning their food again.

Instead of active cooking, the cook sat on a stool in the corner of the kitchen eating an apple that Yao had sorted just before.

Without thinking Yao ran to the kitchen range in an attempt to save the food. Yet before he could see the damage in the pot the pirate cook stood up from his stool and pushed the Chinese emperor out of the way.

"Stay away from my kitchen, Asian." The pirate bellowed low and loud.

Shocked that he was suddenly pushed away, Yao restored his balance quickly and prevented himself from crashing against a pile of pots and pans.

The emperor quickly walked back to the cook and his kitchen range, ignoring his warning completely. "Pay more attention to the food! You're burning it!" He spoke partly shocked and partly angry. He tried yet another time to reach for the pot, but the cook grabbed his upper arm tightly and pulled him away from his stove. "Captain told me you wouldn't be a bother." He reminded Yao and squeezed his arm between his strong fingers.

A second long Yao considered throwing the pirate against the floor, but he kept himself from doing so. He remembered Arthur's warning clearly and he still hadn't forgotten that he was cleaning the filthy kitchen because he had fought the other day.

Irritated he pulled his arm out of the pirates grip and walked out of the kitchen. As the cook refused to listen to him, than he would convince Arthur that the cook was most likely trying to poison them.

Once he arrived at the deck he noticed Arthur right away. He was still talking with the same pirate, only this time they were bend over a map instead of looking over sea.

Unconsciously he straightened his clothes and took a deep breath to calm himself down from the conversation he had with the cook before. Slowly he walked to pirate captain and stopped two meters away from him. "Captain." He had felt the urge to call him by his first name again, but if he wanted to accomplish something he had to play by Arthur's rules.

Arthur raised his hand, to let Yao know that he had to wait until he was done.

Yao kept quiet and waited impatiently for Arthur to finish. Luckily it didn't take too long for the pirate's to finish.

Arthur rolled the map up and stepped towards Yao. "You wanted to speak me with." He said and waited until Yao would leave word.

"Yes, captain." The emperor said, trying to be as polite as possible. He folded his arms within his oversized sleeves before he continued. "I would like to change my job on the ship."

Arthur raised one of his thick eyebrows. "Cleaning the kitchen is not your job, it's your punishment." He said and with that he thought he could deadpan the subject. He turned around and walked to his cabin.

Yao was shocked when Arthur suddenly walked away and quickly followed him. "I meant to change my job as a deckswabber." Yao said quickly yet controlled. "I would like to sign up as cook on your ship." He didn't mean to stop cleaning the kitchen. In fact he wasn't even planning too. If he didn't want to drop dead before England would rob him from his live, that kitchen absolutely needed to be cleaned.

Arthur stopped in front of his cabin's door and slowly turned back to Yao. His thick eyebrow rose a second time. "And what exactly makes you think that I would change your job to cook, Yao?"

Yao had expected that Arthur wouldn't give in right away and calmly continued. "I noticed your cook uses rotten food and burns everything he makes. A better cook would cause miracles for your crew."

Arthur huffed amused. "And what makes you think that I would believe your concern about my crew?"

"I refuse to die from food poisoning." Yao said resolute. If the pirate wanted the honest truth, than he would get it. Arthur's crew could die from whichever disease they would get from the food, but he refused to. It was the most dishonourable dead he could imagine, especially because he could prevent it.

A small smile appeared on the pirate captain's lips. He turned back to the door of his cabin and opened it. "What makes a Chinese emperor a better cook than the cook I already have?" He asked while he walked inside his cabin, leaving the door open for Yao.

The emperor followed the pirate inside and closed the door behind him. "I like to cook in my spare time. Besides, it is not hard to surpass the skills of your, so called, cook." His voice had a certain irritated tone in it, even though he had tried to speak as neutral as he could.

Arthur was putting away the map he was holding, while Yao explained him why he should switch the emperor's job. When he was done he walked back to Yao. "I'll give you a change." He said after a long silence. "I want you to prove your cooking skills. After breakfast the kitchen will be yours. Prepare dinner, but don't forget that I want that kitchen clean before you fall asleep."

Yao blinked a few times before he fully realised what Arthur had said. He hadn't expected the pirate to accept his request this fast. Not that he would have accepted a 'no', but he had expected a little bit more resistance.

With a small bow towards Arthur, he thanked the male for the chance. "Thank you very much. I won't disappoint you." He said, turned around and walked out of Arthur's cabin.

\---

During breakfast he had dared to try the cook's food a second time, but after tasting it he reminded himself never to try it ever again. It was as if the cook had tried his best to make the food taste even worse than it was last time.

To stop his hunger Yao stole an apple and a few carrots out of the kitchen, because what Arthur's didn't knew, couldn't turn out in a punishment.

Till Yao's relieve, the cook left the kitchen quicker than the Chinese emperor had expected. Though the mess that the pirate left wasn't helping the Chinese emperor at all.

He folded his oversized sleeves till above his elbows and started with cleaning the kitchen range. It took him quite a while before he managed to get it as clean as he possible could. Soon after, he continued with sorting the food that he needed to make dinner. The supplies in the kitchen weren't very promising, but after he found the food supplies down deck he got his hoped back up. Not only was the food a lot fresher, he also found a lot of ingredients that he recognized. Rice, bamboo, cabbage and ginger seemed to be the last things the pirates brought on board. There was no doubt that Arthur and his crew had plundered his lands, but that was his least concern right now.

\---

At sundown Yao managed to clean the complete kitchen, sort out all the food filled crates in the kitchen and prepare dinner.

He stirred the stew once more, turned off the fire of the stove and grabbed the stew filled pot at the handles. It hadn't took him long to decided to make a stew, because he wanted the pirate's to compare his stew with the stew the pirate cook had served the other day.

As soon as Yao arrived on deck with the pot, the pirate's turned their noses into the air or looked over their shoulder to see where the smell came from.

Even before Yao was able to place the pot on the wooden deck or could sign that the food was ready, a line of pirate formed before the Chinese emperor.

An uncontrollable smile appeared on Yao's face, because he reminded himself that the pirate cook had to tick with a ladle against a pot to announce that the food was ready. He only needed to arrive at deck with the stew. There was only one thing he hoped for now; that the pirate's taste buds weren't ruined during the years.

He grabbed the bowl of that the first pirate reached out to him and just wanted to fill it when Arthur walked closer. "Wait." He said calmly. He stopped before the pot and looked at the stew within. "You will taste it first." He said and turned his eyes to Yao.

The Chinese emperor looked surprised at the pirate captain and raised both his eyebrows. "I did not poison it, if that is what you expect." He said. He would never poison someone, simply because he could think of a hundred other ways of killing a man and poisoning the pirate's was just not worth ruining a good dish.

"Then prove it to us." Arthur said and offered him a bowl.

Yao fought the urge to roll his eyes and grabbed the bowl. He filled it with the stew, blew it and took a few careful sips, trying not to burn his mouth. Then he offered the bowl to Arthur with a resolute look in his eyes. "If I had the intention to kill you, I would have done it in a fair fight; face to face and with my own strength. I refuse to ruin a dish with something as low as a poison." He informed the pirate captain. He grabbed the bowl of the first pirate in line again and filled it.

Arthur huffed amused and smelled the stew. He gave the bowl to the second pirate in the queue and turned to Yao. "Fill their bowls and come to my study with two bowls." He ordered the Chinese male. Then he turned around and walked to his cabin.

Yao looked at Arthur's back until he disappeared out of sight. He turned back to the queue and continued filling the bowls. He saw the contents of the pot slowly decreasing, however the queue didn't seemed to decrease at all. The emperor felt a bit stressed, he was starting to think that he didn't cook enough. He could easily make another pot with stew, but it would mean even more work and he still needed to sort out the food down deck before he was allowed to go to sleep.

He continued filling the bowl's until he suddenly recognised one of the pirate. "You already had a bowl." He mentioned a little confused.

"I want a second." He pirate said with his low and cracking voice.

Yao kept himself from smirking. He had done it. The pirate's wanted more than one plate, while none of them ever asked for a second with the pirate cook.

"I do not have enough to serve everyone a second plate." He said. "And the captain didn't eat yet. You have to wait until tomorrow." He grabbed the pot and carried it back into the kitchen. Still satisfied, he filled two bowls and walked to Arthur's cabin. He knocked first and opened the door.

Arthur sat behind his desk and stood up as soon as he heard Yao coming in. He walked to the table and told him with a simple hand gesture to sit down.

Yao obeyed and placed the bowls on the table. He sat down and waited for Arthur. He didn't want to eat before he knew if he would become the new cook.

Arthur looked at him for a moment and then at his bowl. "I almost never allow anyone to change job on their request." He said. "This better be of a very good quality."

Yao bowed his head. "I assure you that it is of a much better quality that you are used to." He said politely. "Also, your crew seemed to enjoy the meal. They came back for a second plate that I, unfortunately, couldn't provide." He held his chin up confident, while he said that.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "I shall decide that for myself." He said and grabbed the bowl.

Yao stared at how the male pressed the bowl against his lips and sipped from the stew's hot bouillon. He waited patiently for the male to tell him what he thought about the dish, but instead of telling him right away, Arthur continued eating.

After the pirate captain placed the bowl back on the table and picked the last bits of carrot, potato and meat out of the bowl, he looked at Yao. He licked his lips and stood up. "Why aren't you eating?" He asked suspicious.

"I would like to know if you will allow me to be the cook." Yao answered and grabbed the bowl of the table. He took a few sips, because he had the feeling that Arthur still expected that the stew was poisoned.

Arthur walked to his desk. "You will become the cook." He said and looked over his shoulder. "Eat." He said again.

Yao smiled satisfied when he heard the good news. "Thank you very much." He told Arthur and then quickly turned to his stew. He didn't want to disobey the pirate at this point, there was always a slight chance that he would change his mind all of a sudden and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

While Yao drunk the bouillon and picked the vegetable out of the bowl to eat them, Arthur suddenly turned around again.

"Though." The pirate suddenly said after a moment of silence. "As I told you before. It is very unusual for me to accept a job switch."

Yao looked warily up to the pirate captain, chewing the last bit of food in his mouth. Arthur was planning to tell him something that he wasn't going to like, whatever it would be.

"There for I want you to give me something in return." Arthur spoke calmly. He took two steps back into the direction of Yao and gestured him to stand up. "Come here." He said.

Yao didn't move a muscle. "I assume you have something in mind." He said wary. That Arthur wanted him to come closer, told him in which direction he had to search for the answer and he doubted if he wanted to accept it.

"Don't disobey me, Yao." Arthur said strict and waited impatiently for Yao to come closer.

Yao hesitantly did what the pirate asked of him. He stood up and walked with slow steps towards the British captain. "I would appreciate it if you told me what you want, so that I can accept or refuse." He said.

Arthur huffed amused. "Who said that you were allowed to refuse, Yao?" He said and reached for Yao's hip, but before he had to chance to hold the Chinese male, Yao slapped his hand away.

"I'm not your play toy." Yao said angrily. He stepped away from the Briton, but Arthur grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Kiss me, Yao." The pirate said and brought their faces closer.

Yao's eyes widened and pulled away, walking backwards to get away from Arthur. "You want me to choose between dying from food poisoning and kissing you?" He asked shocked and annoyed at the same time.

"No, Yao." Arthur answered and stepped towards Yao -who was walking dangerously close to the bed-. "You will be the cook and you will kiss me. You have no chose, it has already been decided." He grabbed Yao's wrist with one hand and used the other to wrap it around the Chinese emperor's waist.

Yao gasped. He took another step back and almost fell down onto the bed with Arthur. The emperor managed to keep his balance and kept them both standing, but Arthur decided differently and pushed him down on the bed.

The Chinese emperor crawled back until he felt the wall against his back and swallowed.

Arthur place one knee next to Yao and the other between the emperor's legs. He pressed Yao's wrist above the emperor's head against the wall and rose slightly above him. With his free hand he tilted Yao's face up, so that he could look him into the eyes.

Yao was slightly panicked. He tried to struggle out of Arthur's grip, but the pirate was holding him pretty tightly, even though it was only with one hand. He pressed with his free arm against Arthur's chest, in an attempt to push him away, but Arthur didn't move away a single inch.

The emperor noticed Arthur's face slowly coming closer. He could feel his heartbeat speeding up and his breath shudder in fear. He closed his eyes and suddenly felt the pirate captain's lips against his. He frowned and tried to pull away, but the back of his head was already pressed against the wall.

Arthur brought a hand to the back of his neck. First he let his hands slight through his hair and pulled the fibre out of it that kept his hair in a ponytail. Then slide it back to his neck, entwining his fingers with Yao's hair and kept him from moving away.

The emperor felt the Briton's lips part and soon a tongue licked along his lips. He tried to pull away another time and pressed against Arthur's chest, but the pirate refused to let him go.

Arthur's lips moved quite gently against Yao's, what surprised the Asian. It was as if the Briton was actually trying to satisfy him as well. Even when that was impossible with a kiss. His tongue playfully tried to slip between Yao's lips, but the emperor refused to part them. Feeling Arthur's tongue against his lips was worse enough.

Yao suddenly felt Arthur pinching his wrist, as if he was warning him. The male slightly started to doubt. He still wanted to refuse, but if he kept refusing he would probably pay for it in the end. Besides, this was only for once. He had to give the pirate something in return, so that meant after this he couldn't force him to kiss him again. At least not as long as he kept himself out of trouble.

Arthur pinched his wrist another time and this time a bit tighter than the first time.

Still partly doubting Yao hesitantly parted his lips. He could feel Arthur loosen the tight grip on his wrist and felt his tongue almost lazily slipping between his parted lips. When their tongue met a bliss spread through Yao's veins.

Arthur slowly let go of Yao's wrist and snake his arm around his waist, pulling him slowly closer. He gently but dominantly circled his tongue around Yao's in a passionate dance.

Yao refused to move along with Arthur's movements, but the longer he tried to resist, the more he realised that the pirate captain was a pretty good kisser. He noticed that unconsciously he started to follow Arthur's lead.

A deep red blush forced itself onto Yao's cheeks. Then he pushed Arthur away, breaking their kiss. Embarrassed he looked away from the British pirate, while he slightly panted.

Arthur kept their faces close. "Yao." He whispered against his lips. He tried to connect their lips a second time, but Yao turned away every time he managed to.

The Chinese emperor closed his eyes again and couldn't believe what they just did and that he had enjoyed it.

Arthur gently grabbed Yao's chin and held it still when he pressed his lips against the emperor's again.

This time Yao didn't pull away and parted his lips automatically when Arthur parted his. Though their tongues never met within the second kiss.

\---

The cabin's door swung open and one of the pirate's stepped inside. "Captain!" He said hasty, but didn't wait for permission to talk like the pirates normally would do. "Spanish sails at the horizon, captain." He said.

Arthur immediately sat up straight. "Antonio." He said and pushed himself off the bed. "He knows what we're after." He walked to his desk and grabbed his captain's coat and put on his head.

Yao, who was already alert from the moment someone opened the door, slowly slide to the side of the bed. Arthur seemed to be pretty worked up by the news. It made the emperor curious for who this Antonio was.

"Get the canons and the men ready." Arthur told the pirate.

Yao, who expected that he had to get ready as well, stepped out of the bed and walked to the door, but Arthur stopped him.

"Yao, stay here." Was the only thing he said. He stepped out of the cabin and locked the door from the outside, leaving the Chinese emperor on his own.

~To be continued~


	4. Chapter 4

### Chapter 4

Yao brought his fingers to his lips and touched them. A blush crept over his face as he thought back to the kiss and shocked himself with the thought. He pulled his hand back, ran it through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. The feeling that filled his body was neither disgust nor satisfaction. It was more like the annoying itching feeling of doubt and confusion and he really had no idea what he should do with it.

He blamed himself. He was a respectful emperor, honest to his people, but he was slowly losing the rights to be the Chinese emperor. He had honestly enjoyed a kiss with his kidnapper, he was working on the ship of a pirate who wanted to steal China's treasure -His treasure. The treasure of his people.- He even started to doubt if he had struggled enough when Arthur kidnapped him. Back in the palace it had seemed to be the best option to save Jin and sacrifice himself, but was it really the best solution for his empire or did he act in behave of his feelings; his fear of losing his brother.

He slowly walked towards the bed and sat down. Maybe it had been a better idea if Arthur had allowed him to fight. Then he could have set his mind off.

He took a deep breath and concentrated on the sounds outside the cabin. He could hear Arthur's voice, rough by the salty air, loudly above the other pirates, though the words were muffled by the wooden door. Several objects moved and scrapped over the deck and then Arthur called out a loud 'fire!'.

The force of a dozen cannon's firing their cannonballs towards the other ship, made Arthur's ship recoil.

Yao was thrown back and tried to restore the balance he had lost. However a cannonball fired from the other ship didn't make his effort any easier.

The cannonball crashed into Arthur's ship and brought a loud cracking noise forth.

Yao took a deep breath and slowly blew the air passed his lips. He lay down on the bed and stared at the cabin's ceiling, listening to the cannon firing, the ship's cracking wood and the voices of the pirates.

Maybe it wasn't too bad to be locked up the small room. At least he wasn't ordered around by Arthur, like in the last three days.

Suddenly he realised that he was only three days on the ship, even though it felt like weeks. His body was already worn out and sore. No doubt that it was because in the palace his servants expected that he sat quietly on a throne and ruled his lands. Not that he followed these rules. Often he helped out his servants, especially in the kitchen. Yet he never had to work as hard as he had to on the ship.

Another cannonball hit Arthur's ship and this time just below Arthur's cabin.

Yao sat up, slightly pale from the shock. Maybe it wasn't as safe in the cabin as Arthur had expected.

He pushed himself on his feet and started walking through the room to give himself a false sense of security. His senses told him that if he would keep walking he would decrease the chance that he would be hit by a cannonball, though he knew it didn't make any difference.

The cannon fires continued for a while longer and then suddenly stopped. The sounds on deck changed. The pirate's barbaric and amused voices quickly turned into war noises, the cannon fires were replaced by gun fires and the metallic sound of crossing swords sounded.

Yao took a deep breath and sat down on one of the chair in the room, At least he didn't have to be scared to get hit by a cannonball.

He looked through the room to see if there was anything that he could use to amuse himself, since sitting there was slightly boring on his own. Not that he wanted to work or argue with the pirate captain, but at least then he would have been kept busy.

In the room's corner a glistering drew his attention. The emperor stood up and walked to the object. It was covered by a cloth; what caused Yao to be ever more curious. He pulled the cloth away and revealed a long sword. The handle was decorated with red stones and its blade was in perfect shape.

Yao grabbed the handle and tilted the sword from the ground. By the looks of it, it was a sword fitting for a king. Arthur probably stole it somewhere, Yao decided.

When he took a closer look the emperor could see the blade was used, though the damage seemed to be as minimal as possible. Most likely it was made of a perfect quality iron, not that he had a lot of knowledge about blacksmithing it was what he could see as a sword wielder.

He swung the sword through the air. It was definitely different from any Asian swords he had used before. However the sword's perfect balance indicated that it was of good quality.

With nothing better to do, Yao started practising with the sword, trying out what he could do with the foreign weapon. He placed his foot in front of him and moved the sword slowly over his head and back down in front of him. He pulled it back, step with his other foot forward and stabbed the sword forward.

Suddenly someone tried to open the door. Yao shock, stepped back, held one hand in front of him and held the foreign sword next to his face, pointing it to the door.

A screeching voice, one that Yao reminded of a crow, came from the other side of the door. The man was laughing in an extraordinary way and seemed to be very amused. "It's locked." He said with his rough screeching voice and an accent that Yao recognised as German. "I bet we find something behind this door!"

Yao had no idea if the male was talking to himself or to someone else, because the male didn't seem to get any response.

The doorknob moved violently in the door and the frame was creaking; ready to break. All of a sudden a sword was forced its way between the frame and the door and broke the lock. The door swung open and two pirates stepped into the doorway.

One of the males had short white hair and bright red eyes. A dangerous smirked reached from ear to ear as the young male seemed to be very amused about the situation.

The second male was far more charming than the white haired and looked nothing like a pirate at all. He had half long blond hair tied in a pony tail and bright blue eyes. He was the first to notice Yao standing in the middle of the room and smiled almost friendly towards him.

Yao was confused by the smile and almost let down his guard, though the white haired male caused that he did not.

Two red eyes turned into Yao's direction and narrowed. "What is a woman doing here?" The German said shocked. "A woman on board means bad luck! We have to leave!" He said and turned around to the door.

Yao was offended by the male's comment. It was already the second time that he was called a girl since Arthur kidnapped him, even though nobody every told him he was feminine in China. Or was that because no one dared too?

The blond pirate did not turn around like the German had done and kept smiling at Yao. "I do not think he's a girl, Gilbert." He said with a clear French accent, his voice gentle and melodic.

Yao blinked. The voice and accent fitted perfectly with the looks of the male, yet he hadn't expected it since the other male had a German accent.

"Do you call that a man?" Gilbert asked incredulous. He turned back to face Yao and narrowed his eyes a second time, searching for what the French pirate had noticed to identify the person in front of them as a male.

Yao kept quiet and let the two pirates discussed whether he was a male or not. The longer they would talk about it, the more time he had to figure out if he was in trouble or not and if he was if he could find a way out.

Yao scanned the room carefully, trying not to let the pirates notice that he was. The door was blocked by the two males; escaping wouldn't be easy. If only he could lure them further into the room he could slip, agile as he was, past them and escape to the deck. Not that he would be any saver there, but at least he wouldn't be cornered in Arthur's cabin.

"What does it care!" Gilbert suddenly called out ending the discussion if Yao was a male or not. "Arthur locked him in his cabin. He must be worth a lot! Let's take him!" The male smirked and pointed his sword into Yao direction.

Yao steadied his defensive position and held the sword tighter. Nobody was going to kidnap him a second time; once was far more than enough. And even though he wanted to leave Arthur's ship, he was sure getting onto another pirate ship wouldn't be any better.

The Frenchman turned to Yao. "You're coming, mon cher?" He asked friendly and held out a hand towards the emperor.

Yao stared confused at the Frenchman. The male was far too friendly to be a pirate and he couldn't see if it was only and act or if the male was genuine friendly towards him.

"What are you doing, Francis?" Gilbert screeched at the Frenchman. "Just grab him!"

Francis chuckled. "Hurting such a pretty face would be a terrible crime." He said to his fellow pirate.

Gilbert sighed clearly annoyed. "You should have remain in your galley!" He commented irritated.

Francis ignored the comment of the German pirate and turned to Yao a second time. "What do you say, cher?"

Yao tilted his head slightly to the side and took a few steps away from the two pirates in front of him.

The pirates noticed it and followed him to the back of Arthur's cabin, away from the doorway.

Yao carefully searched for the possible escape routes and immediately found one under the table. If he managed to escape through that opening the way to the door would be free. He quickly looked back to the pirates and finally gave the Frenchman his answer. "I have no intention in joining you."

"Awesome." The red eyes pirate said satisfied. "Then we'll take you by force."

The emperor merely had the time to steady himself before the red eyed pirate stormed towards him with a wide smirk on his face.

Their blades crossed. Yao pushed gilberts sword to the side with the sword his was holding, slipped past the male and didn't even need to duck under the table to get past the French pirate.

Though what the emperor hadn't seen was that the French pirate had been patiently waiting for Yao to ran away.

Francis hooked the arm, in which he was holding his sword, around Yao's throat and grabbed with his free hand Yao's sword holding hand. The French pirate pulled the arm behind the emperor's back and twisted it far enough to make the Chinese male loosen the sword.

Yao closed his eyes painfully when his wrist was twisted, but didn't bring out a single sound.

As soon as the sword fell out of his hand Francis stopped twisting Yao's wrist. He forced the emperor against the wall and chuckled. "Don't make me want to hurt you, mon cher." He purred into Yao's ear.

Yao stared at the wall thinking about what he could do. The Frenchman was holding his arm pretty tightly and pressed him quite hard against the wall. However the emperor still had one free arm, while the Frenchman had none.

Behind them the German pirate came closer and grabbed the sword from the ground. "What in the name of-" Gilbert didn't finish his sentence and suddenly start laughing enthusiastically. "Coldblood! Captain will be very pleased to see this!" He called out very amused.

The French pirate's eyes widened. He turned towards the German pirate and apparently didn't noticed he was loosening the grip on the Chinese emperor.

Yao, who had absolutely no idea what the two pirates were talking about, noticed Francis wasn't paying attention and took his chance. He pushed Francis backwards as hard as he could, pulled his arm free and ran towards the still opened door.

"Oi! Francis!" Gilbert called out. "What are you doing? We need him!"

Outside of the cabin Yao quickly glanced around, only to see both Arthur's ship and the other ship filled with fighting pirates. He turned back to the cabin's door, bending slightly through his knees, one hand in front of his chest and the other stretched towards the French and German pirate. He was in a disadvantage without a sword, never the less he would try to defend himself bare handed.

Gilbert swung his sword into Yao direction not even trying to be careful.

Yao stepped to the side and grabbed Gilbert's wrist. He brought his other arm to the back of the German's neck and pushed him face forward to the ground.

As soon as he did that, he had to duck away from the Frenchman's sword. He tried to throw Francis to the ground the same way as he had thrown Gilbert, but before he could the German stood back on his feet behind him and held his sword against his throat. "Got ya!" He said clearly amused. "Now be a nice little Asian and come with us."

With the blade against his throat Yao decided not to resist and neither to react on the comment about his height.

Francis walked closer and tried to tie Yao's hands, but the emperor resisted and pulled his hands away.

The Chinese male did want to leave Arthur's ship, but he wasn't planning to leave it only to end up on another ship with different pirates. He kind of knew what Arthur was up to by now, but he had no clue what the other pirates were like. The French pirate seemed to be very friendly -as long as he would obey-, though the German pirate was violent and probably loved the sight of blood and fear. Besides he hadn't even met the captain yet, who knows, maybe he was even worse than Arthur.

Francis managed to grab Yao's arms and tied the emperor's hands behind the male's back. "We have to bring him to the ship unnoticed." He informed Gilbert.

Yao pulled on the ropes that held his arms together and tried to pull his arms out of the restriction. Even though the French pirate had been gentle with him, he hadn't done so with the roped. The material was biting into his skin and it was impossible to free himself out of them.

"Let's put him into one of those!" Gilbert suddenly said and nodded into the direction of what he was looking at.

Yao looked up curious to see what the German pirate had meant by 'one of those'.

When Francis walked to a few barrels, opened the lid and emptied it on the floor, Yao's eyes widened in shock. Were they planning on putting him into a barrel to transport him?

The emperor's question was answered when Gilbert pushed Yao towards the emptied barrel.

"You are going to carry me in a barrel?" Yao asked shocked.

The German pirate smirked. "Who said we will carry you? Rolling it so much easier!" He laughed hatefully and pushed Yao against the barrel.

Yao felt the colour leaving his face. It's wasn't going the way he wanted it at all.

Francis grabbed Yao's legs lifted him and tried to lead them into the barrel, though Yao refused to cooperate. He widened his legs to make it impossible for the pirates to put him in the barrel.

"Bind his legs together." Gilbert said annoyed. "We have to get him to the ship as quickly as possible!"

"Oi! Don't order me around!" Francis said annoyed. He grabbed a second rope that he found near them on the ground and tied the Chinese male's legs together with it.

"Untie me immediately!" Yao commanded with as much authority as he possibly could at that moment. He tried to pull his legs out of the ties, but just like with his arms, the ties were to tight to loosen.

"Untie you, or what?" Gilbert asked hatefully. He laughed hard and amused. Then he forced the emperor into the barrel with a bit of help from Francis.

"Find me something to seal the lid with." Gilbert ordered Francis, ignoring the Frenchman's order from earlier. When said he placed the lid on top of the barrel to keep Yao inside.

Yao, who wasn't planning to quietly sit there waiting, tried to push the barrel open with his shoulder, though the German pirate was too strong for Yao to open the lid. He thrust a few times hard against the lid, but it was difficult to keep his balance while squatting and with his feet tied together.

It didn't take long before they ticked with an iron object against the barrel's wood. A sharp pain in Yao's shoulder, caused by a nail that was hammered into the lid, made Yao quickly pull away from the lid. He could feel his warm sticky blood slowly dripping out of the wound which the nail had made.

More nails were forced through the wood , fastening the lid to the barrel.

Yao cursed under his breath. He was captured once again and again it was by European pirates. He slowly lowered himself to the bottom of the barrel. Only then he noticed that the barrel was still partly filled with the liquor it was filled with before. His clothes slowly became soaked and it made him sigh. It wasn't his lucky day, or better said, it wasn't the luckiest part of his life, the remaining part that he had left, because it wouldn't take long anymore for it to end.

Suddenly the barrel was turned on its side. Yao shock. With his hand and legs tied he wasn't able to break the fall that he made in the barrel. He landed on the shoulder with the wound and groaned to himself.

"I'll let the captain know what we found." The French pirate said. His voice was muffled by the wooden barrier of the barrel, but Yao could still hear him clearly. "Get him on board unseen." He told the German pirate strict, probably taking him back for ordering him around before.

"Leave it to me!" The German answered enthusiastic. "Mister Asian and I will take a nice little walk. Or in his case a nice spinning!" He laughed hard about his own joke and make Yao roll his eyes.

Even though Yao expected it, he still shock when Gilbert start rolling the barrel.

The inside of the barrel was rough and caused that Yao couldn't slide to the bottom. Instead he had to roll along and fell down to the bottom every single time as the barrel was turned two quarters. He groaned and closed his eyes, trying to think about a way to break his fall. Yet it seemed impossible.

Suddenly they stopped.

"Help me caring this to the ship!" The German said.

Yao could hear pirates gathering around the barrel and suddenly he was lifted. It was more than a scary idea to be in mid air and not being able to see a thing of what was going on around him.

"Don't you dare letting it slip!" Gilbert called out. "It's worth more than any of your miserable lives!"

Yao couldn't help but notice that the German pirate was acting as if he was the captain instead of one of the crew members. Though he was pretty sure he was not. Arthur had called the pirate captain Antonio, besides the Frenchman didn't seemed to be very pleased that the German pirate ordered him around.

When the Barrel hit the ground again, Yao quickly pulled up his knees. He pressed against the side of the barrel with his back and knees and tried to hold himself on the same spot. If it would go according to what he hoped, he would be spinning along with the barrel. Hopefully it would be less horrible than falling with every turn it made.

The barrel was rolled further again. Yao spun along with the barrel and it made him dizzier than expected. He quickly closed his eyes and tried to block out the rotations that he made.

All of a sudden they stopped again.

"Let's give you some flying lessons!" The German suddenly called out.

Yao quickly opened his eyes to the darkness in the barrel. What was the German planning?

The barrel received a push and the emperor could feel how the barrel rolled down from something that probably were stairs. He closed his eyes again and tried to pinch himself between the walls of the barrel even tighter, hoping that he could hold it long enough until he arrived downstairs. Though he was rotating harder than before and it was a bumpy trip down, what made it a lot more difficult to do so.

In the last bump Yao's head bounced back against the barrel. His couldn't hold himself pinched on one spot any longer and hit his head a few times more while the barrel rolled, until it stopped.

With the feeling as of the whole world was spinning all around him, he lost the control over his conscious and blacked out.

~To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

### Chapter 5

Yao woke up laying on the hard floor. He was cold; Ice cold and soaked from top to bottom. Goosebumps covered his body and he began to shiver. The cold woke him up slowly. While he tried to get grip on reality he became more aware of the pounding feeling on the back of his head and his massive headache. A soft groan past his lips. With closed eyes he reached for his head. He heard chains moving, but didn't realise yet that he was tied to the wall with them, he only noticed the weight around his wrists.

His fingers touched something sticky on the back of his head. Slightly disgusted by the feeling and at the same time curious for what it was, he opened his eyes and pulled his arm back to see.

In the faint light, from the hand full of candles around him, he couldn't see what it was, only that it was a darker colour than his hand. He whipped it off on the wooden floor and sighed. Then he pushed himself up and leaned against the cold wall, wondering where he was.

The last thing he could remember was hitting his head against something and then nothing. He had no idea if he was on the Spanish ship or on Arthur's, if Arthur won the fight or the other captain. He didn't even knew how long he had been passed out and how he ended up in whichever place he was in.

He looked around to see where he actually was. Luckily the light wasn't too faint to see. It was dark and colours weren't easy to separate, but shapes where doable.

He was in a cell, as far as he could see. It wasn't too big probably 2 by 2 meters. The floor was moist and slippery, but he barely noticed it because his clothes were still soaked by the liquor out of the barrel.

Suddenly a hatch in the ceiling opened and the bright day light lightened the room.

Yao closed his eyes quickly to protect his them from the sudden light. He could hear footsteps on a stair and became curious. He held his hand before his eyes and opened them, trying to get used to the light.

"You're finally awake." A man with a French accent said.

Yao recognised the voice right away as Francis' voice and immediately knew where he was; on the Spanish ship.

The emperor's eyes slowly got used to the light. He looked up at the French pirate and noticed he was holding a plate with -what he thought was- bread.

"You must be hungry." Francis said. He walked closer to the cell and opened the door. A small smile adorn his face when he squatted before the Chinese emperor.

Yet again the French pirate surprised Yao. He couldn't understand why the pirate was being abnormally sweet towards him, especially because the German pirate was the complete opposite.

"I am." Yao answered. It was only when the Frenchman asked him that he had noticed the empty and annoying feeling in his stomach.

He reached out for the bread, the three foot long chains around his wrists rattling when they were moved. Then he saw the blood on his hand. He quickly pulled back and looked at his hand, shocked. He quickly reminded himself that he had touched the sticky fluid on his head before and reached for the spot. Before he was able to touch his hair to check if the blood came from there, Francis spoke again.

"Mon dieu." The Frenchman said indignantly. "That Prussian idiot promised me to be careful with you." He gently turned Yao's face to the side to look at the wound on the back of the emperor's head.

For an unknown reason Yao let the Frenchman do as he pleased and just waited until he was done looking at the wound. Prussian? Yao thought. He wondered if Francis was talking about the pirate with the German accent, or if the Prussian was another pirate. He guessed the first.

"Let's clean this first." Francis suddenly said. He stood up and walked out of the cell, closing it behind him.

Yao watched how the French pirate walked, in an elegant way, up stairs to the deck. He frowned. Was this male really a pirate? He was far nicer than the other pirates he had met thus far, besides his cloths were rather clean looking and if he had noticed correctly, Francis would be the first pirate that didn't stink of sweat and blood.

Francis was back quicker than Yao had expected. The male was caring a small bucket with water and a clean cloth. He walked back into the cell and squatted in front of Yao a second time. "Turn around, mon cher." Francis told Yao. "I'll get that blood out of your beautiful hair."

Yao looked at the Frenchman for a few sort moments. He didn't trust pirates, but he couldn't help but trust the French pirate. Still in debate with his conscious if he should turn his back to Francis, he already turned slowly.

When he only had turned a quarter, Yao heard Francis wetting the cloth and soon felt the cold of the water against his head, a tad lower than the spot that he could feel pounding.

"Mon dieu." Yao heard Francis call out a second time. "I should teach him how to treat a guest."

Yao raised his eyebrows in disbelieve. "Guest?" He asked. "I'm in a cell." If he was a guest, than he didn't want to know what they would do with a prisoner.

"Only because you struggled before, mon petite." Francis answered in a honey sweet voice. "When you have spoken to the captain and agreed to cooperate, you will be free to wander around the deck."

Yao noticed the male's other hand was gently tickling down his back. He arched his back, trying to get away from the Frenchman's touch, assuming the male touched him by accident. "What if I do not agree?" He asked. He still didn't knew why his was kidnapped by the pirates, apart from the fact that they, for some reason, connected him with the sword he had found in Arthur's cabin.

Francis' hand didn't leave Yao's back and ran down the emperor's spine. "We don't want beautiful face to get hurt, now do we, mon poupée?"

Yao's expectations were answered with Francis' comment, but since the pirate was helping him, he decided not to react. Neither did he push away the hand that was touching his back.

When Francis wetted the cloth again and pressed it against the wound on Yao's head, the emperor brought out a sigh of relieve. The pressure against the sore skin around the wound and the stinging of the cloth against the wound were unpleasant, even painful, but the cold water against the warm and pounding spot was a relieve. He closed his eyes and let the Frenchman clean the blood out of his hair in silence.

He only opened them again when he heard the cloth being dropped back in the bucket. Francis pulled the tie out of Yao's hair and fixed his pony tail.

"There." The French pirate said. "It's almost invisible and you're as beautiful as you were." He brought Yao's ponytail to his lips, first smelled it and then kissed the end.

Yao glanced over to Francis, confused over what the male was doing. He slowly pulled away from the male, until his ponytail slipped through the French pirate's fingers.

Francis smile friendly and took the cloth out of the bucket again. He took Yao's hand, the one that was still red for the blood, and cleaned his fingers one by one.

Yao frowned. He looked at his hand and how Francis cleaned it and then turned to look at his face. He hadn't understand why the male was cleaning him, but all of a sudden an idea popped up in his mind. "Are you making me presentable for your captain?" He asked curious. It was the only imaginable reason that he could think off at the moment. He turned back a quarter, with his back against the wall, to face Francis.

The Frenchman chuckled. He threw the cloth back in the bucket and sat down on one knee. "You don't need to be presentable for the captain." He answered. He ran his fingers gently over Yao's arm and took the emperor's hand in his own. He turned it with the palm up and kissed it.

Yao pulled his hand away in shock. "Then why are you helping me to clean the blood?" He asked warily. Maybe the male was only being polite and charming, trying to make him feel comfortable and letting him know that he shouldn't fear him, but for some reason it felt wrong.

Francis pressed his hand against the wall a mere few inches away from Yao's head and grabbed Yao's shoulder with the other. "Because you look more beautiful without the blood, mon poupée." He bend to Yao's neck and ran his nose and lips along the crook.

A shudder ran down Yao's spine. The trust that the pirate had gained just before was quickly leaking away. Until now he had used Arthur as a role model as a pirate, to compare Francis with, assuming that all pirates would act like the British pirate. However Francis seemed to act in a complete different way. Arthur had been direct, telling him exactly what he wanted and could care less if Yao trusted him or not. Francis had done the complete opposite. He had tried to gain Yao's trust and succeeded and now he was taking advantages of it. The male had managed to come close without alarming the emperor and caught him in his little trap.

Yao tried to push Francis away, but the French pirate grabbed his arms and forcefully pressed them above his head against the wall.

"Don't refuse me now, mon petite." He said in a sweet tone, letting only the slightest tad of lust sound in his voice, followed by a perverted chuckle.

Even though the pirate was pinning Yao against the wall, his touches were still gently and careful. His fingers followed the lines of the emperor's collar and his lips brushed along the crook of Yao's neck before they were pressed against his skin as small kisses.

Yao tried to pull his hands free, but because Francis hold his arms just below the chains around his wrists, he couldn't possibly pull them free.

"Don't, please." Yao brought out, trying to pull away from Francis' lips. He couldn't remember that he had ever begged Arthur to stop, he had always just told the male to stop and if the Briton did not, he had accepted his fate. But for some reason he did beg Francis, maybe because the Frenchman had been so nice to him just before; maybe he just hoped to find that kindness back.

The pirate chuckled amused. "I'm sure your heart tells you something different." He pressed his lips against Yao's ear and whispered. "Because everyone longs for me." His fingers trailed down over Yao's collar and opened the mandarin shirt.

Yao shivered when he felt Francis cold hand against his chest. He didn't want this, for some reason the Frenchman's touch felt even worse than Arthur's. "I don't!" He said resolute. "Don't touch me."

Francis chuckled. "We'll see." He said and moved his hands over Yao's stomach, searching for the waistband of the emperor's pants.

Yao was getting annoyed. He refused to allow the male into his pants, even Arthur hadn't dared to go that far. Yet.

The emperor had already decided that he wouldn't be able to pull his hands free, but his legs were still available. He worked his knee slowly between Francis and him, trying to do so without the pirate noticing.

Of course Francis did notice. He pushed Yao leg to the side, forced Yao with his back flat against the wall and sat down between the Chinese male's legs, making sure he couldn't move anywhere. "Don't try to get away, mon poupée. You are mine now." He bend to Yao's neck again and planned to tease the male's skin again with kisses, but he was interrupted by someone else.

"Oi Francis!" Gilbert called out. "Captain wants to speak with the prisoner."

Francis sighed disappointed and looked irritated over his shoulder to the Prussian pirate.

"Let's continue another time." He told Yao and let the male's arms go. He slowly closed the males shirt again, making sure to touch Yao's chest all the way up to his neck.

Yao let out a shuddering breath of relieve when Gilbert stepped below deck, but wasn't allowed to recover from Francis last touch.

Gilbert unchained the emperor and pulled him rough on his feet. The male tightened Yao's hands behind his back, pushed him out of the cell and onto the deck.

Yao didn't resist, hoping that if he cooperated, the Prussian would be a bit less rough on him. Of course what he hoped didn't happen.

When he came into the daylight, Yao quickly looked around, only to find the ship in mid sea. No land nor other ships where near. It made the emperor wonder what had happened to Arthur and his ship.

Gilbert pulled him to a cabin on deck, opened it and forced Yao's inside with a hard push.

Yao couldn't hold his balance, stumbled inside and landed on his knees before a man. At first Yao stared at two dark brown leather boots. Then he turned up his gaze, seeing a lighter leather pants, the edge of a long red velvet coat, a white blouse and…

Yao was slightly taken aback when he saw the goofy smile on the man's face. His hair was long, messy, brown and tied in a ponytail and his eyes were a mystery, because the male smiled with his eyes almost entirely closed. The only reason why Yao knew the pirate captain's eyes were still slightly open, was because the pirate was staring down at him.

Yao forced himself on his feet and straightened his position. He looked calmly and maybe even slightly arrogant towards the Spanish pirate. Not that he meant to look arrogant, he just wanted to show the male he wasn't intimidated by the much longer male.

The pirate captain didn't seem to be bothered about it and spoke. "And who are you?" He asked in a Spanish accent. His voice sounded a lot more demanding than Yao had assumed it would after seeing his expression.

Yao hesitated with his answer. He wasn't sure if it would be smart to tell the male his real name. He had no idea how many people, outside of China, would know the name of the Chinese emperor. "Yao." He answered short.

The pirate opened his green eyes and raised his eyebrow curious. "Just Yao?" He asked, clearly not satisfied with Yao's answer.

Normally Yao would be against lying, he even had been honest towards Arthur, but he had the feeling that he couldn't stay honest if he wanted to keep the Spanish pirate away from his palace. "Just Yao." He answered.

Yao could see the disbelieve in Antonio's eyes. The emperor already regretted his decision to lie to the captain. Now the male either thought that he had a really good reason to only have a first name, or that he was hiding his name for a really good reason. He could better come up with an excuse quickly.

"Then tell me, Yao." The pirate continued. "What tragic past do you have not to have a last name."

There. The question was asked. "I abandoned my name when I became a pirate." Yao lied as good as he possibly could.

The pirate captain chuckled amused. Clearly he didn't believe Yao. "Well then mister Yao." He said with the same amusement. "Tell me, what was your work was on Kirkland's ship."

Yao stared at the pirate, forcing the fear from his face. He was scared that if his neutral expression would waver just a second Antonio would take advantage of it. He answered the male with a steady voice. "I'm Arthur's cook." Luckily he didn't had to lie about that.

"The cook?" Antonio asked faked interested. "Then tell me, why would a cook wear such delicate and expensive looking clothes in a kitchen? Aren't you afraid to ruin them?"

Yao caught himself looking away nervously and quickly look back at the pirate. He had no idea how to react or what to say. Maybe this was the reason why he never lied, because he couldn't.

"Silk, isn't it?" Antonio asked. His smile was just as friendly as it was before, but this time Yao noticed the irritation in his eyes. He was getting annoyed by Yao's lies.

"I guess so." Yao answered carefully. Of course they were, all his clothes were made of the finest silk. Not that he needed it, but nobody would offer him anything less than king worthy, or in his case emperor worthy.

Another chuckle. Antonio signalled Gilbert with a small hand gesture, turned his back to Yao and walked to a chair that stood behind him. He sat down and waited until the Prussian left the room. Then he leaned with his elbows on the armrest of his chair and looked at Yao again.

"Either you are speaking the truth or you are lying to a pirate, which, I can tell you, is a very bad idea." Antonio said. His smile became less amused than it had been before. "And luckily for me I know Arthur better than you seems to know him." A dark glare appeared in the pirate's eyes, but the smile on his mouth didn't change. He stood up from his chair again and took a step into Yao's direction.

Fear shot through Yao's veins. He swallowed and took a step away from Antonio, because he really had no idea what he had to expect from the Spanish pirate and it scared the hell out of him.

"You see." Antonio started. "I happen to know that not a single member of Arthur's crew would ever dare to call him by his first name and he would never allow his crew to wear anything that has a certain value, unless they are worth more than what they are wearing."

Yao shuffled on his feet and took another few steps away from Antonio, however the pirate just walked along with him, to make sure the distance between them didn't became larger.

Maybe it was better if he would be honest from that moment off.

"Also, you were locked into Arthur's cabin. Arthur would never allow anyone of his crew in his cabin and the cabin was locked from the outside." The pirate put his hand into his pocket and took a necklace with a key out of it. He held it towards Yao, so he could see. "I took it from Arthur. It fitted on the door of his cabin. He locked you into the room, didn't he, Yao?"

Yao licked his lips nervously. "He did." He said. Something was bothering him. The fact that the pirate took it from Arthur, did it mean Arthur was dead? "What happened to Arthur?" He asked before knowing it.

The darkness in Antonio's eyes lightened a little and he seemed to be amused by the question. "What would you do if I told you he is dead?" He asked. "Would you care that he died? Would you be angry at me for killing him?" The tone Antonio used was teasingly.

Yao looked at him and just realised what he had felt. Fear that Arthur was dead. A blush appeared on his cheeks, but quickly disappeared again. He shouldn't fear Arthur's dead. Arthur's dead meant that nothing would happen with Jin. It meant that his treasure was safe again. The worst that could happen to him now was getting killed by Antonio. He should be happy Arthur was dead.

He looked at the pirate and answered. "I wouldn't mind." He said resolute.

Antonio laughed friendly and almost cute. "Your life must be worth a lot, as I had expected." He said.

Gilbert came back. Since Yao stood to close to the door, the Prussian pirate pushed the male annoyed towards Antonio. "Don't stand in my way, Asian." He said and walked towards Antonio, offering him the sword Yao found on Arthur's ship.

Yao quickly took a few steps away from Antonio again. He already expected that they were going to ask him about the sword. He looked at the sword and then at Antonio, ready to answer his question honestly, because he really had no idea what the sword was. Besides, he wasn't afraid anymore. If losing his life was the worst that could happen, he would accept his dead. He would do everything to protect what was from China and he believed that Jin would make a great emperor.

Antonio took the sword and showed it to Yao. "I think your life is worth a lot, because of this." He said and looked impatiently at the emperor. "Where did you find it?"

"In Arthur's cabin." Yao answered without hesitation and looked at Antonio, waiting until the pirate would reject his answer, because he knew it wasn't the answer the pirate wanted to hear.

Antonio smiled darkly again. "Do you really think I would believe that after the lies you told me earlier?"

Yao shook his head. "No, I don't expect you to believe me." He said, he just hoped the male would.

Antonio lowered the sword and handed it over to Gilbert, before he turned to Yao again. "Where is Coldblood's treasure?"

Yao recognised the name, because Gilbert had said it back on Arthur's ship. "Never heard of it before." He said though. There was no point in telling the male he only heard it from Gilbert anyway.

Antonio huffed. "You do know. You just do not want to tell us."

"I don't know anything about it." Yao said resolute raising one of his eyebrows.

Antonio stared quietly at Yao, with his head slightly crooked to the side. His smile had disappeared for a moment.

Yao stared back at the male. He knew the pirate was doubting and to help him believe him he decided to tell the male the whole story. "I found the sword in Arthur's cabin when I searched for a defence weapon. It was hidden under a piece of cloth and hidden in the corner of the room."

Antonio didn't react right away, but the he began to chuckle. "I believe you." He said and folded his arms. "But if you do not know about Coldblood's treasure, then you must know something else. Arthur still thought you were worth a lot."

Yao shuffled on his feet and became slightly nervous again. He thought that if he could convince Antonio that he didn't knew anything about Coldblood, that the pirate would leave the subject to rest and would think about a way to get rid of him. However, it seemed the pirate figured out something that he shouldn't know.

"What are you worth, Yao?" Antonio asked. "Information? Another treasure? Ransom?"

"Nothing. I'm merely a cook." Yao tried the lie again, hoping that Antonio would believe it if he would tell him long enough.

"You should stop lying." Antonio said darkly. "You're a terribly liar. What are you worth?"

"Nothing." Yao repeated and kept staring at the pirate, though it was getting harder to say it convinced with Antonio's dangerous eyes fixed on him.

Antonio huffed and took a step back. "I see that you're not in the mood to be honest to me." He said. "Maybe we should try again later." He turned his back to Yao and walked to a table in the back of the room. "Mister Beilschmidt, untie our guessed and find him a nice bed for the night. Also ask Francis to cook him a meal. Everyone would be cranky after the way he had been treated don't you think?"

Yao looked up surprised by the sudden change of Antonio's tactic. It wasn't going to work, but Yao wouldn't refuse the offer of a bed and a meal. Better to enjoy it as long as he could.

Antonio turned to Gilbert and spoke again. "Also, make sure you'll guard him with your life."

"Ofcourse captain!" Gilbert said not as amused as he had sounded before. He walked to Yao and untied the Asian. Then he walked to the door and waited for Yao.

Yao rubbed his wrists when they were freed from the ropes. They had been cutting his wrists all this time, but he only noticed after they were freed. He took a quick glance at Antonio, who stood in the back of the room waiting for him to leave. Then he turned to Gilbert and stepped out of the cabin.

~To be continued~


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Yao stared glazy to the wooden mast in front of him. He sat on his knees, with his wrists tight onto the thickest and longest mast on the ship; the middle one.

In the past days his hands had slowly turned blue, because Gilbert had tied the rope to tightly around them. His head leaned against his numb hands, but he didn't even realise it. He couldn't sleep, because his was hungry and thirsty and because of the painful pounding and burning feeling of the sore and ripped skin on his back.

Up until then he had thought that he would make the best of it and if Antonio would kill him, so be it, but right then he wished that either they would let him go or kill him. Not that any of the options was likely to happen.

The snapping sound of a leather whip slashing against the wooden deck woke Yao immediately out of his thoughts. The sound was already too familiar.

As if the sound triggered his pain nerves, the welts on his back began to pound and burn even more. His heartbeat sped up and fear spread through his veins, causing a tingling and lightheaded feeling.

The emperor quickly looked around, searching for Antonio. He would arrive first, just like the other days. He spotted the pirate captain on his right. The Chinese man tried to cover his fear by acting arrogant. He had done this in the past 3 days, but every day it became harder to suppress his painful expressions.

When Antonio arrived, he bend towards Yao and grabbed the emperor's chin with more force than needed. "Decided to speak?" He asked. The smile on his face was friendly and calm, but Yao knew better. That smile could turn in a sadistic smirk within second.

Yao licked his dry lips and stared daring into the pirate's eyes. "I refuse to talk about anything that isn't meant for people who'll use the information for the wrong purpose." He said with a hoarse voice. He scratch his voice, trying to scratch the hoarseness off of it, but didn't continue speaking.

The smile on Antonio's face didn't change. "Let's remind him in which position he is." He said and nodded once to a pirate behind Yao. "Five will do, for now."

Gilbert's sadistic laugh sounded shrill like always. "With pleasure!" The man screeched amused. Without a warning the Prussian pirate slashed Yao's back with the leather whip.

Yao's eye closed tightly, he held his breath and almost bit his tongue, but not a sound had slipped him. He refused to show any sign of pain, but it was impossible to completely control his body when the leather slashed over his already ripped skin.

Without a pause he received his second whip. He could feel the wounds on his back bursting open by the force and warm drops of blood seep down his back.

He didn't need to wait for the third, fourth and fifth whack. His toes curled, while he swallowed away a groan. He had counted the whips and allowed himself to relax his body. He knew that five wouldn't be all the whips he would get that day, but at least there was a short pause.

Then, out of nowhere, a sixth whip hit his back. Not prepared for the sixth he screamed. The unexpected whipped forced tears of pain in his eyes. With his eyes wide open he stared down to the wooden deck, recovering from the last whip, trying to process what just had happened.

Gilbert let out a screeching laugh. "Looks like I lost count!" He commented in malicious pleasure.

Yao knew Gilbert didn't lose count, the Prussian had moaned more than once that Yao hadn't screamed or begged to be left alone and finally he received the scream he had hoped for.

Someone walked closer to Yao and stopped in front of him. Two leather boots was the only thing Yao could see while looking down, but nothing happened. He slowly lifted his head and stared Antonio right into his face.

The pirate captain looked down with a smile. The smile that caused the delusion that the male was friendly and airheaded. "Where is Coldblood's treasure?" He asked right away.

Yao closed his eyes and turned his face to the floor. "I do not know anything about Coldblood, nor his treasure." Yao sighed. The question was ask many times since he was on the ship and they still didn't seemed to believe him.

Antonio stepped even closer to Yao and grabbed him by his hair.

Yao shock when Antonio forced him to look up and stared right into the pirate's face.

"Look at me when I speak to you." Antonio said with the same friendly smile.

Yao swallowed and stared at Antonio with intense loathe. "I do not know anything about Coldblood's treasure." He repeated. He was starting to lose his will to resist, but kept reminding himself that he swore an oath to his country to protect it and its people.

Antonio chuckled softly and pulled Yao's hair harder, forcing his head into his neck. "And I still don't believe you." His voice had slightly changed to an annoyed tone and Yao realised that Antonio's friendly smile could break any second. "You're keeping something from me and I want to know what it is."

Yao kept quiet and just stared at the pirate captain. He knew he was supposed to answer, but he did not. He licked his lips and braced himself, expecting to be whipped. It didn't happen though.

Antonio's smile broke and turned into a sadistic grimace. He reached for Yao's face and grabbed his jaw tightly, hard enough to bruise the Chinese's cheeks. "My patience is wearing thin, Yao." He said. "And things will get even uglier when I lose my patience."

The Spanish pirate didn't need to remind Yao, the emperor already knew. Not that the pirate captain lost his patience before, but Yao could guess it would turn out really ugly. This man was not the same as Arthur, Yao found that out quickly enough. Arthur was sadistic, but still in a fair way, for as far as sadistic could be called fair. Antonio, on the other hand, was simply mad.

"Captain!" The pirate in the crow's nest suddenly yelled down. "A ship on the horizon!"

Antonio looked up for a moment, then he turned back to Yao. "Looks like it'll stay with only five today." He said. Then he let go of Yao's jaw and stood up. He walked to the edge of the ship and used his binocular to look further into the distance.

After a few second, he suddenly turned around. "Bonnefoy!" He called out and waited for the French pirate to step out of his galley.

"Captain?" He asked surprised that the pirate called him. He hadn't noticed that there was a ship in the distance yet.

"Bring him back down deck and make sure to guard him with your life." Antonio said strict and nodded into the direction of Yao to make sure Francis would understand who the 'him' was.

Francis turned his face towards Yao for a moment. A smile appeared on his lips, just before he turned back to Antonio. "Of course, captain." He said amused and walked towards Yao.

Antonio turned to the other pirate. "Make the ship ready for battle! This will be a tough one."

A loud 'Yarr!' sounded, before the pirates began to prepare the ship, including the cannons and their swords.

Yao took a deep breath. He was glad that he wouldn't be whipped any more, though the Prussian pirate didn't seem to be all that amused about it. When Francis walked up to him, Yao prepared himself for the worst again. The smile on the Frenchman's face was friendly, but he reminded himself of what happened the last time Francis was alone with him.

Francis knelt on one knee before Yao and untied the male's hands from the mast. The Frenchman looked at Yao's hands and sighed. "Your beautiful hands." He complained quietly. "They were tied far to firm." He shook his head once and brought Yao's hands to the emperor's back, making sure not to touch the ripped skin on his back.

Yao blinked. Yet again the Frenchman was friendly towards him and even though the man was holding him firmly, he also made sure not to hurt the emperor.

The French pirate helped Yao on his feet and lead him down deck. Once there the man brought him to the cell he had been in on the first day on the ship.

Francis chained Yao's wrists behind his back, though not as tight as the ropes had been. His fingers were still numb and blue, but Yao guessed it would fade eventually, at least if it wasn't already too late.

"Now let me see your back." Francis said and gently turned Yao around.

Yao let the male for a while and felt the Frenchman touch his skin once or twice. It was painful, but not as painful as the whips.

"Your beautiful skin, scarred." Francis complained sighing. He placed his hands against Yao's upper arms and slowly turned him around again. "You should stop resisting, mon petit, before they'll ruin your skin even more."

Yao wasn't sure what he had to think about the comment of the pirate. It sounded like a friendly advice, but Yao's guts feeling told him it was merely because the pirate wanted him. To strengthen his guts feeling he thought back at the past days. The Frenchman hadn't touched him a single time since their first encounter, but the reason for that was Gilbert. Antonio gave the Prussian the task to guard the emperor, but he took his task a bit too seriously. Not only did he make sure Yao wouldn't escape, he also kept every other pirate away from him. Yao became his new toy and he had been guarding it to make sure nobody would steal it from him.

But now Francis had Yao all for himself. Gilbert was probably helping the others preparing the ship for battle and readying his sword, while Yao and Francis were down deck, just waiting for it to be over.

Yao shock out of his thoughts when Francis caressed his chin.

"Mon poupée. You were distracted." Francis said slightly hurt that Yao had little attention for him. He bend towards Yao, in an attempted to peck his lips, thought Yao pulled away quickly.

The emperor stared shocked at the French pirate, glad that Francis woke him out of his thoughts before he tried to kiss him. "I would rather have you not doing that." He said politely to Francis, hoping that the pirate would accept it.

Francis chuckled gently. "You're speaking in a polite way again, mon petit." The male said amused. "It makes me wonder who you really are."

A loud 'bang' sounded and less than a second later a cannonball hit the ship. The impact, caused Francis to fall towards Yao, but instead of pulling back, like a normal person would do, Francis kept his body as close to Yao as it was. He pressed his nose against Yao's cheek and spoke again. "What is your secret, Yao?" He asked.

Yao tried to pull as far away from Francis as possible, but he was too close to the wall, and pressing his whipped back against the wood hurt more than he expected. "My secrets aren't meant for pirate ears." He said. "and I would appreciate it is you pulled back."

Francis huffed amused and brushed his lips against Yao's ear. "You wore expensive clothes." He said. "But you didn't buy them with treasure money, did you?" His fingers ran along Yao's sides to his naked chest.

Yao shuddered, but not in anticipation. It was in a mix of fear and disgust. Even though Francis touch was gentle and tender, it was awful, he didn't want to be touch by this man in this way. "Please, stop." Yao tried politely again. Though he started to realise that this would go exactly like the first time. Francis wouldn't stop, no matter his begging.

Francis didn't stop, like Yao expected. Instead he moved his lips down over the emperor's neck and pecked his shoulder. "How can I stop when we're finally alone again, mon poupée?" He asked in a whisper. His lips trailed to Yao's throat and licked over the male's adam's apple.

The cannon shooting stopped and the pirates' war noises indicated that the ships were close enough to start a man-on-man fight, but Francis didn't seem to care.

"I think you were born in a very wealthy family." The Frenchman continued their conversation as if nothing was the matter.

Yao struggled, but with his hands tied on his back and his horrible painful back it was impossible to move. "Why do you think I'm from a wealthy family?" The Chinese emperor asked, hoping that the conversation would distract the pirate from what he was doing.

"The quality of you clothes, the way that you speak, the smoothness of your skin." Francis replied, but he wasn't distracted at all, like Yao had hoped. His hands slide over Yao's chest and gently brushed along his nipple.

The Frenchman probably hoped to get a reaction from the touch, but it didn't effect Yao. Not a sparkle of excitement or a tingling feeling, nothing but disgust.

Yao could see in Francis eyes that he wasn't amused that the male didn't react, but didn't let it sound in his voice. "I think you have a really high rank in China, am I right, mon petit?" His hands slide down to Yao's stomach, before he reached for the waistband of his pants. "Not in the army though." He continued. "Your skin is too smooth and you leak muscles."

Yao didn't pay attention to what Francis was telling him. His thoughts were by the male's hand. The hand that was coming far too close to area's that it should not touch. "Stop touching me!" The emperor forget about politeness and just start yelling at the Frenchman. Politeness wasn't going to help him.

Francis looked up slightly hurt. "Such harsh words! They do not suit you, mon poupee." He said hurt by Yao's tone. He curled his fingers around the waistband and pulled it down without hesitation.

Yao's eyes widened when he felt the fabric slide down his tights and his naked bottom touched the cold wet floor. "No! Stop!" He called out and began to struggle again. He managed to press his foot against Francis and forced the male with his back against the cell's door.

Francis seemed a little confused at first, but then chuckled. With Yao's legs stretched, he managed to pull Yao's pants off easier, leaving the Chinese male completely naked.

Yao felt his heartbeat speed up when Francis grabbed his legs and pulled them apart with ease. In the past three days he hadn't had a lot to eat and the torture had worn him out. He couldn't find the strength to keep his legs together and keep Francis away from him anymore.

Francis moved closer between the emperor's legs and bend towards Yao's face. "I'll make you forget about the horrible torture." He said lovingly, his smile showing a mix of friendliness and lust.

Yao shook his head in fear. Why was it that the Frenchman didn't understand the word no? Francis was going to rape him and the man didn't even seemed to notice he was. The pirate's touch was gentle and caring, meant to arouse him, but it didn't affect him at all.

Before Yao knew it he start gathering as much saliva in his mouth as he possibly could and without thinking spit Francis in his face. He stared at the Frenchman, realising what he had done. It was all so suddenly that even the emperor shock from his own action. He wouldn't normally spit someone in the face and if he had thought about it a bit better he guessed he wouldn't have done it to Francis either. Though within that split second it had seemed like the best way to keep the Frenchman away from him.

Francis was quiet for a while, clearly shocked and slightly confused. He reached for his face and whipped the spit off. While looking at his hand and began to chuckle. "Mon poupée." He said luscious. "If you want to exchange saliva you should have told me so." He bowed towards Yao and before the emperor had the chance to duck away, pressed their lips together and slips his tongue inside.

Yao shock, pulled away and accidently scratched his ripped back against the wooden wall. He groaned painfully into Francis kiss and pushed his body forward, away from the wall, but closer to Francis.

Francis brought his hand behind Yao's neck, to make sure Yao wasn't able to pull away. He deepened the kiss a bit more and searching for Yao's tongue. Even though Yao tried everything to pull away from Francis' kiss, their tongues soon met.

The Frenchman's other hand trailed down Yao's naked chest again. He let it slide further down to the emperor's stomach, circled his fingers around the Chinese man's bellybutton and tickled down to the inner part of Yao's upper leg.

As soon as Yao felt fingers slide from his upper leg up into the direction of his crotch, he shook his head heavily and tried to pull away from both the kiss and the hand. He scratched with his heels over the moist and slippery floor, trying to find enough grip and tried whatever he could to pull his arms free from the chains.

As soon as Francis's hand touch his limp organ, Yao bit the man's tongue out of impulse. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought about it earlier, but it worked. The Frenchman pulled away from the kiss the instant and brought out an irritated groan from the pain. However, Francis' groan was overwhelmed by a desperate scream from Yao.

Both Yao and Francis were quiet and stared at each other in shock, processing what they just said and heard.

Yao still sat there, his eyes widened in shock and disbelieve from what he just called out, when Francis began to smirk widely.

"Arthur?" He asked genuine amused about what he just heard.

Yao came back to reality and turned his gaze away from Francis, his face flushed from the embarrassment. He swallowed and couldn't believe he just screamed for Arthur. The man was dead and his body was probably somewhere on the bottom of the ocean or already eaten by scavenger fish. Besides, why would he call for Arthur; of all the people he could call for?

Francis bend towards Yao again and brushed his lips along the emperor's. The amusement had vanished from his face as quick as it had come. "I'm sure Antonio would be delighted to know your relationship with Arthur, but I don't like it when you call for anyone else but me." He chuckled softly, though it was clearly audible that he was hurt. He wrapped his arms around Yao's waist and ran his lips down Yao's throat, kissing it in the process. "If you promise me that you'll call for me from now on, I'll promise you to be careful with you."

Yao closed his eyes and his eyebrows drew together in anxiety. He shook his head, quietly hoping that Francis would finally understand and let him go, even though he already knew his action wouldn't change anything.

That moment the hatch towards the deck opened and something heavy landed on the floor.

Francis looked over his shoulder wondering who was disturbing them and Yao opened his eyes, trying to look past the Frenchman.

Without a word, Yao stared at the man that stood underneath the stairs and couldn't believe what he saw; Arthur.

In the past week Yao had been certain Arthur was dead. Yet here he was, without a scratch or anything that would indicate that the man had been badly injured. His expression was neutral; no smile, no grimace, no frown, nothing. However something deep within the British eyes caused a horrifying feeling in the emperor's chest and stomach; Anger, but not towards him.

When the Briton fixed his eyes onto Yao a satisfied smirk formed on his lips, followed by the male's amused voice. "I heard my name."

**~To Be Continued~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... well that took me a while...  
> I had a writer's block for about a year... and I honestly told myself more than once that I wouldn't continue writing this...  
> But people on FF.net kept on begging me...  
> So in the end I managed to finish it...
> 
> But I really am not sure if there will be another update... Sorry... D8

“Mon amour~.” Francis sounded amused to see the Briton. “It’s been a long time~.”

Arthur clenched his hands tighter around the two swords he was holding. One was his own, the other was Coldblood’s blade which he took back only a few minutes before. “Don’t call me that, Frog.” He hissed between his teeth. He hated the Frenchman. He hated his inhumanly pretty face, his charming manners, and the nicknames that the male called him. He hated his existence more than anything else.

Arthur knew that Francis was going to answer him, trying to get away with words, trying to calm him down or rather talk him into the Frenchman’s bed, just like he had tried to do with Yao.

The thought that the perverted Frenchman had dared to touch what was his made Arthur even angrier. Nobody was allowed to touch his property without permission and especially before he had been able to touch it himself.

Without warning the Frenchman and without allowing him to answer, Arthur raised his own blade and thrust it towards the charming pirate.

The Frenchman was barely fast enough to draw his own sword and block Arthur’s attack.

Arthur could see a flickering of fear in Francis’ eyes. It amused him. He pulled his sword back and swung it at Francis again. This time the Frenchman seemed to be prepared and block his attack perfectly.

“Mon cher.” Francis said with a smile. “I missed fighting you~.” In his turn he swayed his sword at Arthur.

Arthur ducked away and thrust his sword next to Francis face, nearly stabbing him. He could have pierced the Frenchman’s face easily, yet something had held him back; a feeling that had always been there when he fought Francis. He couldn’t describe the feeling, but it always kept him from killing the man.

Francis blinked in surprise when the sharp blade almost cut his cheek. “Watch the face!” He called out shocked. He attacked Arthur and even though he could easily stab the Briton through his chest, he did not, just like Arthur.

Arthur noticed, but wasn’t surprised. It had always been like this. None of them was serious about killing the other. They would fight and hate each other the rest of their lives, but they would never kill one another. Maybe Arthur did know why. They knew each other for such a long time already and they always had hated each other. But who should they hate, when the other wasn’t around anymore? Who would they fight whenever they were bored?

The fight went on, but Arthur knew it had to stop. He had to take Yao back to his own ship. They had to arrive on the treasure’s island, before the Chinese army would arrive. And they would sooner than Arthur wanted them to.

Without further ado, Arthur suddenly whacked the pommel of Coldblood’s sword against Francis’ temple. The impact against the sensitive spot caused Francis to knock over and pass out on the spot.

Arthur stared down at the Frenchman’s body, just to make sure the male was still alive.

When he noticed the perverted pirate’s chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, Arthur turned towards Yao.

The Chinese emperor didn’t notice Arthur was looking at him as he was trying to stand up and pull his arm free from the ropes. He didn’t manage to do so though.

Arthur stepped towards Yao and when he came closer he saw for the first time how bad he looked. The Chinese male looked pale, his hair was messy and he had dark circles around his eyes. Some blood was dripping down his sides and Arthur wanted to know why.

“Yao.” He said as he grabbed the male’s upper arm and helped him stand up. That was when he saw the welts on the emperor’s back. His possession was damaged. Frustrated he wrapped his arm under Yao’s ass and threw him over his shoulder. Yao swallowed a yelp, but Arthur didn’t pay attention to it. He thought it would be the best way to transport the Chinese emperor without damaging his back any further. He didn’t even pay attention to the fact that Yao was hanging butt naked over his shoulder. There were more important things on his mind.

He attached cold blood’s sword onto his belt and used his free arm to keep Yao from falling off of his shoulder. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed up. Once back on deck, he clenched his own sword tightly in his hand, ready to defend Yao and himself. He heard stumbling underneath him and looked down into the hole he just came out. The French pirate held himself up by the ladder and held his head, while he tried to look up at Arthur. “Get back here, Briton!” He exclaimed, but he was too dizzy to follow Arthur.

Arthur snorted amused. “Ask me again when you are able to stand straight on your legs.” He replied and then quickly walked away.

As quickly as he could, while avoiding battling pirates, Arthur made way to one of the makeshift bridges; a plank that was fastened between the two ships.

“Behind you!” Yao’s voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Arthur turned around, noticed a pirate charging them and swung his sword, slicing the pirate before he could attack them. He huffed amused. “Thanks for the tip.” He said, turned around again and climbed on to the makeshift bridge.

Once on the other side, there were two more pirates of Antonio’s crew, he had to swing his sword for before he managed to carry Yao safely towards his cabin. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.

“Thank you.” He suddenly heard Yao telling him, before he was even able to take the male inside. Arthur stopped for a moment and a smile appeared on his lips. Comfortable warmth spread through his body, making him feel slightly light headed and appreciated by the emperor. He let Yao slide off of his shoulder and looked at him for just a short moment. The emperor looked tired and broken. Arthur reached for Yao’s face and ran his thumb over Yao’s cracked lower lip. “No problem.” He replied. His smile made place for a grimace. He felt slightly heartbroken by Yao’s appearance. It was strange, even for Arthur; Yao was merely his prisoner and a toy to play with when he had some free time. He was the man that was going to make him richer than he had ever dreamed he would be. Even though that was Yao’s first purpose, Arthur began to realize; he knew the male for just a few days, but his feelings towards Yao already began to grow. It was nothing close to love, or at least that was what he told himself, but there certainly was something that forced him to be friendlier than he normally was towards prisoners and it was not just because he wanted to fuck the male.

He caught himself leaning into Yao. There was no time for kissing though. There was still a battle to be fought outside. He let go of the emperor and turned back to the door. “I’ll be back in a minute. Try to stay out of trouble.” He placed Coldblood’s sword safely back in the corner of his cabin. Then he stepped outside and locked the brand new lock in the door.

With a quick look around his deck and his own sword clenched tightly in his hand, he decided in what kind of situation he, his crew and his ship were. Bodies were slowly piling up, but most of them were from Antonio’s crew. A wide smirk appeared on his lips. Antonio seemed to be on the losing end. This wouldn’t take too long.

The pirate captain motioned a nearby crew member and told him to make sure no one was allowed in or out of his cabin. As soon as Yao was guarded properly, he made his way further onto the deck.

\---

What happened next went quite quickly. Arthur had ordered a few of his crew members to find Yao’s missing clothes, telling them Yao’s clothes alone could buy his whole crew new weapons, as he was sure it was made of an expensive silk. It hadn’t been long before they came back with both Yao’s white trousers and his red long sleeved duangua. One of them even held the emperor’s small black shoes. Right after that the pirate captain had ordered his crew to burn down Antonio’s ship and clear out their own from enemy pirates.

Even though all this had seemed only moments to Arthur, it had been quite a lot longer. When Arthur was finally able to instruct his crew to set sail, the sun was already setting.

Arthur found himself some rest in leaning against the railing and staring at the burning ship that slowly disappeared into the distance. That was when he caught something in the corner of his eye. At that same moment the pirate in the crow’s nest, who barely had the chance to climb up after deciding that he wasn’t needed on deck anymore, called down to his captain: “Captain! Chinese sails!”

Arthur didn’t need to hear it though; he had already recognised the distinct panelled sails.

The pirate captain grimaced. The Chinese army was already following them for three days, probably not knowing that Yao hadn’t been on their ship for a week. Arthur’s ship was much faster, though, and up until then they had managed to keep a great distance between the ships. Though the battle with Antonio had slowed them down and caused the Chinese army to catch up with them again.

Arthur took a deep breath and straightened his back. “Set sail to the island.” He bellowed. “Split the crew in three groups and take turns tonight. We’re going full speed throughout the night.” Arthur decided. That way they would get a reasonable distance from the Chinese army again, which they would need if they wanted to come back alive and rich.

After he had made sure two-third of his crew was getting a few hours of sleep and the remaining third were at their posts, he turned himself to his cabin. It was time to find out how badly his treasure was damaged.

\---

Yao was lying on his side on the bed with his eyes closed, when Arthur stepped inside. He was facing the room and covered his front with the blankets preventing the fabric to touch his back, which Arthur assumed hurt too much to be covered by anything.

For a moment Arthur thought Yao had fallen asleep, but when he walked closer Yao suddenly opened his eyes.

The tired eyes of the emperor first stared at Arthur’s boots, but then slowly moved up to meet with Arthur’s eyes. The pirate captain expected to see pain and fear in the male’s eyes, but instead he saw calmness, relieve and maybe even gratefulness. It forced the tiniest smile on his lips.

Arthur tore his eyes off of Yao and walked to a cupboard on his right. He grabbed a box out of it filled with first aid material; some old rags that he used to bind wounds and a few stolen ointments. Nothing too fancy. It was the bare minimum of what a pirate used and the ointments were on the luxurious side.

“Can you sit up?” Arthur asked when he turned back to Yao. He could see the confusion in the male’s eyes when he noticed the bandages in the box. He didn’t blame Yao for looking confused though. He was surprised about his own action as well. Normally he wouldn’t do this for his prisoners, but Yao… Yao was different.

Without a word Yao pushed himself up and turned his back to Arthur. He pulled his dirtied and tangled hair further over his shoulder and waited for Arthur.

Arthur immediately began to inspect Yao’s back. He had the feeling he couldn’t do a lot though. The older welts on Yao’s back were already closing and the new ones -he expected they had been whipping him not to long before he attacked the ship- still had to set. He decided not to bind Yao’s back just yet. When the last few welts had set, he would bandage him to protect the wounds from bursting open. Until then he would just apply some ointments on the older welts.

“Looks like you’ve been lucky.” Arthur broke the silence.

Yao’s shoulders moved when he huffed. “Please explain your definition of ‘lucky’.” He mocked Arthur’s word choice.

Arthur stood up and grabbed a cloth to whip of the remaining ointments off his fingers. “I’ve seen people in a worse state after torture.” He placed the first aid box back into his cupboard and sat down behind his desk. “Tell me, why did they torture you?” He grabbed a small book and began to write in it.

“I hoped you could tell me.” Yao answered weakly.

Arthur looked up and saw Yao had turned himself towards him, hiding everything from his chest down behind the blanket. They stared at each other in silence. Yao because he waited for Arthur to answer him and Arthur because he was thinking. Thinking about what the cause could have been. There were two options and neither of the two he liked. Either Antonio found out about the Chinese treasures or he was after Cold blood’s treasure. Even though these two options were the only he could think off, he didn’t understand the options completely. Nobody should have known he had been after the Chinese treasures. He had found the map by accident and only he and his crew had known about it. And if they were after Coldblood’s treasure, he didn’t understand why they took Yao with them.

“Who is the one they call Coldblood?” Yao asked impatiently after he didn’t receive an answer from the pirate.

There Arthur got his answer or at least part of the answer. He still didn’t understand why they took Yao as well, though. “But why did they take you as well?”

“You owe me answers, Arthur!” Yao replied angry. “They tortured me because they believed I knew everything about that treasure! You should at least tell me as much as for what I had to bear that pain!”

Arthur thought he heard desperation in the emperor’s voice, which didn’t surprise him all that much. The male was broken; it was visible in his eyes. He didn’t even behave the way he had before. His authorizing appearance completely disappeared and he didn’t even speak in that confident tone he had used on Arthur before.

“Coldblood was a feared pirate.” He finally answered. “And he was probably the richest man on earth. They say he buried himself with his treasure.” He took a deep breath and turned around again, ending the conversation.

“And..?” Yao waited for the rest of the story, obvious not satisfied with the answer he got.

Arthur took another deep breath and rubbed his hand over his face. “Yao, what are you aiming at?” He asked annoyed. He really had no idea where Yao was going, but seeing the male’s determined expression he was sure the male had something specific in mind.

“You know where that treasure is.” Yao claimed without hesitation. “Either you are Coldblood or you have been there before.” He licked his burst lips almost nervously. His eyes shifting to the sides, before they settled on the pirate again. “Either way, you are already the richest man on this planet and STILL you are after the treasure of my people. You’re going to rape me. You’re going to kill me. You threatened my brother. You killed my people.” Yao seemed to get angrier with each sentence.

Arthur took a deep breath. He was a pirate, he had no heart, but why was it that Yao’s words made him feel guilty? He placed his writing feather on his desk and stood up. “I know where the treasure is. I’ve seen it, I’ve touched it, but I do not own it.” He said in a low and dangerous voice. He pulled his red captain’s coat out and hung it on a hook next to the door. “I will never attempt to get it.” He walked up to Yao, bended towards him and cupped his face. “And it will not be rape.” He whispered softly, while he moved his face closer to Yao’s.

Yao pulled away from Arthur’s face, but the pirate didn’t mind. Instead of pressing his lips against Yao’s, he brushed them along the emperor’s neck and moved them to his earlobe. He nibbled it and pulled away with a smirk on his face.

He enjoyed the way Yao had turned his face to the side in embarrassment. Hopefully that would silence the male as he wasn’t in the mood to answer any more questions about Coldblood. He stood up and walked to the door, but before he could open it Yao spoke again.

“Why would you never steal that treasure?” Yao asked in a hoarse voice. He closed his eyes and scratched his throat, but when he opened his eyes again did not look into Arthur’s direction.

Arthur took a deep breath. “I don’t want that treasure, as it is not mine to take.” He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he wanted to tell Yao what he was planning to tell. He couldn’t figure out why he should not though. Maybe it would even help him to make Yao finally shut his mouth. “I will not bring shame to my father’s tomb and take the treasure that he gathered over a lifetime.” Without waiting for a reaction or even looking at Yao, he opened the door and stepped onto the deck.


End file.
